DRM and the Web

Rigo Wenning

ODRL Workshop
Vienna, 22-23 April 2004

Plan

• Expectations
• Integration and Interoperability
• ID issues
• Enhancements and constraints
• DRM and Privacy
• DRM and Web Services
• DRM and P2P

Expectations

• EC IST mentions lack of DRM as a roadblock?
• iTunes works!
• Piracy is (the only) reason for bad business in the music sector?
• Voices talk about high prices for bad food!

Real issues

• Is the Privacy-issue solved?
• Does DRM integrate well into other DRM and into applications?
• Is there a solution to the issue that a digital copy can't be distinguished from its original?
• Is DRM something that the Web Services Arena should think about?
• What about P2P?

The war is still going on

• Heavy lobbying to preserve a business model, where content is attached to tangible goods.
• Erosion of exceptions to copyright and Droit d'auteur
• P2P is getting more sophisticated and more of a closed group
• P2P starts using signature - mechanisms.

DRM and the war

• As long as the war is going on, DRM - Schemes have uncertainety about the semantics to use.
• In presence of unsecure semantics, application semantics are used.
• This will create a potential conflict with ever changing legal semantics.

ODRL?

• ODRL is a framework to express semantics
• ODRL is not application semantics as it is a framework
• ODRL just perpetuates the semantic trouble
• ODRL will have to offer profiles to allow certainty

Missing Semantics?

• ODRL has a fairly complete set of semantics
• But it is missing the logical NOT
• NOT can be expressed with AND plus OR, but it gets more complicated

Example for NOT

Try to encode this simple sentence in ODRL:

• You can do whatever you want with my work, but if you make money with it, give me 15%

ODRL says:

• A Permission that is not specified in any Rights Expressions is not granted.

Conclusion o(n/r) NOT:

• ODRL is missing a wildcard mechanism or a NOT
• The more constraints on copyright, the simpler the expression in ODRL
• Creative Commons is exactly the opposite

Interoperability and Integration

• Interoperability with other DRM languages
• Interoperability with the Web

Other Languages

Treat with both sides of the war:

• Interoperability with MPEG-21
• Interoperability with Creative Commons

This has be explored but can not be considered done

Integration with the Web

• Difficult integration into HTML
• Would need some binding mechanisms like in P3P
• Bind DRM to HTTP (URI) or to HTML (link rel?)

ID Issues

• One of the various splits at the W3C DRM Workshop was the identification of objects
• This was also marked in the Team comment
• There is still a profile missing on how to use URI's to identify a protected work just in any namespace.

DRM and Privacy

• A big issue in the W3C DRM Workshop, especially for the enforcement engine
• Privacy is still a big issue
• Privacy might be misused as a term for general dissatisfaction

ODRL and Privacy

• Currently search for Privacy in ODRL gives one hit
• P3P 1.1 is developing a generic p3p attribute to bind a P3P Policy to a specific XML Element
• ODRL could use that solution to address privacy in a much better way.

DRM and Web Services

• DRM is just yet another set of metadata
• DRM should integrate into the Web Services Model
• SOAP and WSDL contain an advanced failure mechanism that could be used.

ODRL and Web Services

• ODRL is not defining a protocol but contains a binding
• The binding could be used to mix in to WSDL
• A Profile or Note would be nice

DRM and P2P

• Sounds like natural enemies, but it isn't
• DRM would allow to legitimize some of the P2P activities
• Psychology is key (see War above)
• Initiatives are missing to integrate effective DRM

ODRL and P2P

• Keep away from good/bad paradigms
• adjust your attacker model
• give people who want to do the right thing the opportunity to do the right thing, not just throw away the data

DRM and Exceptions

• Risk of losing our history
• Does DRM generate a right to hack for history?
• Library Privileges are not implemented yet
• Keep Society and the needs of a democratic society in mind while designing DRM.

ODRL and Exceptions

• This is still the weak point of ODRL and I still hope for a revision
• Missing wild cards and NOT-operator
• There is still research ahead
• The exceptions show a lot about the spirit of design

Merci bien

• I hope I gave you some points for discussion
• Presentation is available on the Web
• http://www.w3.org/Talks/2004/04-odrl/