I highly doubt that anyone has been persuaded to buy a Netflix subscription because of Netflix's use of DRM.
As for 'shady' -- well, not a word I'd necessarily use, but there's plenty of examples where DRM has blocked access to legitimately purchased content.
That doesn't for their own video. Whom are they using it for in that case?
> It isn't there job to fix the rest of the Internet
Apparently it's their job to break it though, by pushing this garbage into he standard.
2. Netflix claimed it's not their intent to use DRM, but demand comes from film publishers who distribute content through them.
3. Netflix make their own films now, but you can't find them DRM-free (legally).
Ergo, it's also their fault DRM was pushed into HTML. Q.E.D.
So tell me again how Netflix subscribers, who are only purchasing the right to be able to stream videos on a limited release cycle, are hurt by Netflix's use of DRM? I followed the massive draconian DRM push by the gaming industry, MPAA and RIAA during the 00s and let me tell you son - this ain't nothing close.
Okay, I'm old, but we watched movies on VHS and it was a lot better than broadcast signal in a rural area. DVD's are very clear in comparison. HDTV is just icing on the cake.
/sarcasm
Two other areas I find it really critical are sports (not a favorite topic around these parts), watching the silky smooth world cup stream in 1080p a few years was breathtaking, another one is animated shows. It seems unintuitive and I have no idea why, but something like futurama is much better in 1080p.
>So tell me again how Netflix subscribers, who are only purchasing the right to be able to stream videos on a limited release cycle, are hurt by Netflix's use of DRM?
Others already brought examples above with this DRM limiting usability of where videos can be watched. But that's a minor damage in comparison with damage done by DRM pushed into HTML standard itself, in which Netflix is complicit.
See https://boingboing.net/2017/03/21/we-cant-handle-the-truth.h...
Whether making a copy of a sequence of numbers without depriving the "owner" of those numbers of anything is theft is debatable.
Just because our economic models are out of date doesn't mean we need to change the way we behave to keep shoe-horning them in. It means we need to change our models to reflect reality.
This is a big issue and our economy is largely suffering for it, but old-world thinking about treating digital goods like physical goods is a poor response.
A proper example would be something like Kung Fury[2].
1. https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140314/23410326583/warne...