The End of Indie Web Browsers: You Can (Not) Compete

Samuel Maddock:

In 2017, the body responsible for standardizing web browser technologies, W3C, introduced Encrypted Media Extensions (EME)—thus bringing with it the end of competitive indie web browsers.

No longer is it possible to build your own web browser capable of consuming some of the most popular content on the web. Websites like Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and others require copyright content protection which is only accessible through browser vendors who have license agreements with large corporations.

As someone who remembers the many different web browsers that were around in the early-to-mid-90s, this makes me very sad. 🙁

The W3C and the main browser makers (with the exception of Mozilla, who did put up a fight against this at the time) all share responsibility for allowing the ‘entertainment’ industry to shackle the open web.