Managing Rights Management

Blogging From The FCC Hearing on Net Neutrality

I'm at the Havard Law School today. Thanks to the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, the FCC is conducting a public en banc hearing at the Harvard Law School on Net Neutrality (NN) and broadband management. There will be a live audo feed for those interested. I'll be blogging comments from time to time.

And the Winner Is: Wal-Mart Goes Exclusively Blu-ray

Wal-Mart has announced on its blog that it will exclusively support Blu-ray HiDef optical disc format. This follows a similar announcement by Best Buy and Netflix.

DRM InteroperabilityThrough Transcoding Patent Application

Recently published patent applications often indicate what individuals or companies are thinking about and perhaps how DRM and related technologies may be evolving. The first of today's applications addresses transcoding techniques for DRM interoperability, no assignee given. The second application addresses ways of binding digital rights management executable code to a software application and is assigned to Macrovision.

Apple Opens iPhone To 3rd Party Applications

According to the AP (via Excite), Apple that it is opening the iPhone platform to 3rd party developers and applications. Now their applications will be able to run directly on the iphone.

Apple infuriated developers and some iPhone users when it issued a software update September 27 that disabled unofficial programs installed on the handsets.

Until Wednesday, Apple had tried to control which applications consumers had on their iPhones.

Now, Jobs said the company intends to release a software development kit in February that will let coders create applications to work directly on the iPhone and the iPod Touch. The Touch is the new iPod portable player that resembles the iPhone but lacks the function of a cell phone.

Steve: it's called building a distributed ecosystem. Among the reasons why ecosystems tend to win is that the number of stakeholders tends to increase non-linearly. 

Intertrust Announces Licensing Program for OMA and Marlin

Intertrust Technologies announced a new program for licensing its DRM patents for Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) and Marlin Digital Rights Management (DRM) based consumer devices and software. The licensing program will also include patents from Sony and Philips, Intertrust's parent companies.

[For ]...mobile phones, consumer electronics devices, and personal computers for €0.25 per unit. Distributors of PC software applications with OMA and/or Marlin functionality are also entitled to an annual cap of €400,000 on the €0.25 per unit royalty.

Ed Bott's Blu-ray HD DVD Update

ZDNet's Ed Bott report on his experiences with Blu-ray and HD DVD under Vista is worth a read. Snippet:

Oh, and about that DRM? CyberLink’s PowerDVD software doesn’t use Microsoft’s Media Foundation Protected Pipeline (Mfpmp.exe). The PowerDVD software is perfectly able to enforce the restrictions encoded on the media by the disc’s producer, without relying on any Vista-specific features. In fact, the software runs on Windows XP with SP2 as well. Presumably, Microsoft will deliver an HD-compatible edition of Windows Media Player someday, which you’ll be free to use or ignore, just as you are today.

Paramount Dumps Blu-ray

The New York Times and The Times Online (UK) are reporting that Viacom-owned Paramount has decided to release exclusively on HD-DVD hi-def optical discs. This is interesting because Blu-ray's BD+ offers much more robust security than AACS alone. The Times Online says, in part:

Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation have dropped support for Sony’s Blu-ray next generation DVD format in a shock move that will see the two studios exclusively use Toshiba’s rival HD-DVD system.

Paramount, which is owned by Viacom, the media giant, previously released movies in both Blu-ray and HD-DVD. Significantly, it cited HD-DVD's cheaper costs as a decisive factor behind its decision to back it.

The Keiretsu wars continue. Stay Tuned.

Prolegomena To Any Future Interoperable DRM

A prolegomena is (according to The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition  © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company) "A preliminary discussion, especially a formal essay introducing a work of considerable length or complexity." In the expressed interest of DRM interoperability, The Digital Media Project has recently published version 3 of its Interoperable DRM standard, which is more a prolegomena or set of platform specifications and requirements than an interoperability standard in my view. Nonetheless, for those interested in the details of DRM, their substantial efforts show how hard it is to get DRM right in the first place, let alone interoperable DRM.

The DMP is a consortium whose members include universities, organizations, and companies mostly mostly from Europe and Asia, including, for example,  Matsushita, Mitsubishi Electric, Fraunhofer, Telecom Italia, and Telefónica. The DMP seems to be comprised of those players who chose for whatever reason --keiretsu politics, of sorts?-- not to join the Coral Consortium, which has its own DRM interoperability standard.  Apparently absent from the DMP, but participating in Coral, are Sony, Philips, Intertrust, ContentGuard, among many others

Responsibility for Blu-ray's BD+ Moved June 1

With little public fanfare, responsibility for licensing the BD+ component of Blu-ray ROM disc security was moved from the Blu-ray licensing authority to BD+ Technologies, LLC. BD+ provides a Virtual Machine-based security capability that supplements AACS key management and revocation technologies.

The move implies that the Blu-ray group of CE companies and the major studios are getting serious about disc and device security in view of the compromised AACS keys and published software for leveraging them. An earlier blogicle posted here on the differences between AACS and BD+ has pointers for those interested in more of the details.
 

State Sponsored Piracy, N'est pas?

Numerous sources including the AP are reporting that the lower house of the French parliament has approved a law that would require Apple and others to open up their proprietary DRM systems. The bill will not become law until and unless passed by the French Senate.

Breaking days of silence late Tuesday, Apple said such a law would "result in state-sponsored piracy."

"If this happens, legal music sales will plummet just when legitimate alternatives to piracy are winning over customers," the company said in a statement e-mailed to reporters. "IPod sales will likely increase as users freely load their iPods with 'interoperable' music which cannot be adequately protected. Free movies for iPods should not be far behind in what will rapidly become a state-sponsored culture of piracy."

The Cupertino, Calif. company did not address the issue of whether it might withdraw from the French online music market, and refused further comment.

While I have great regard for the French, the Apple comment is on target.

I'm reminded of that moment in Casablanca where Victor Laszlo [played by Paul Henreid] instructs the house band to play the French national anthem, La Marseillaise, which is literally quite a bloody song, the last verse of which has been translated as:

Drive on sacred patriotism
Support our avenging arms
Liberty, cherished liberty
Join the struggle with your defenders
Under our flags, let victory
Hurry to your manly tone
So that in death your enemies
See your triumph and our glory!

It would appear that at least as far as Apple and others who employ DRM in France are concerned, that the liberty of the market is headed for la Toilette.

Sun To Publish Specs For Opensource DRM

TechWeb reports that Sun will soon publish Open Source DRM specs. Snippet:

The open-source project is under Sun's Open Media Commons (OMS) initiative to license content to individuals rather than machines, such as cellular phones, MP3 players, PCs and set-top boxes. "The specifications need more work before they can ship, but there are many startups that would have shipped them a long time ago," said Tom Jacobs, director of research at Sun Labs, and project lead for Open Media Commons. "We think it will take between 12 and 18 months to complete, but in reality we will have specs in which independent companies can either modify existing products or build new ones before the end of the year."

It's good to see the Open Source community embracing DRM. Open Source DRM in use is even better.

Grundner's Modest Proposal On Interoperability

Alexander Grundner, editor and publisher of eHomeUpgrade, has posted a blogicle regarding interoperability of DRM systems. The core of his idea is this:

Why doesn't the industry come together (possibly with help from the CEA) to create a neutral, embedded clearinghouse firmware application that will enable media players to identify non-native DRM wrapped media along with the ability to download the proper codec and DRM restrictions applicable for playback?

Interoperability among rights management systems is technically a most tricky issue. And there are business model implications as well. Let me deal with these first.

Looking For DRM Info?

Ridaas has built a search engine for locating technical documents related to DRM and Content protection. Ridaas is keeping his/her identity secret, but I'm permitted to say that Ridaas is a computer engineer currently interested in digital audio/video distribution and protection.

For copyright reasons, Ridaas is unable to make the documents in the collection available for downloading, but the interested party can follow the trail to the source.

Sony DRM Uses Open Source Code to Add Apple DRM

According to J. Alex Halderman on the Freedom To Tinker blog, the now infamous Sony rootkit DRM technology (from First4Internet) incorporates open source code that supports Apple's FairPlay DRM. Leaving aside the propriety of utilizing open source, does this constitute breaking the Apple DRM system? If so, how is this different from an individual doing the same thing? Does this open Sony to prosecution under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act?

Well, not yet. Turns out the code was shipped on the XCP CDs and is installed when the rootkit is installed. However, Halderman had to jump to the specific memory location where the FairPlay DRM code begins, something that would not be done by the typical consumer. Thus one could argue that at the last minute Sony had second thoughts about making these capabilities available to consumers.

As Halderman points out, his discovery raises more questions than are answered presently.  Nonetheless, bad behavior is bad behavior regardless of the particular actor: large corporation or individual.

For the avoidance of doubt, Sony did not go wrong, in my opinion, by using DRM technologies to protect valuable content. The negatives include:

1. Consumers were not fully informed regarding the various capabilities of the XCP (the First4Internet DRM) software before it was loaded on their computers and before they purchased the XCP-enabled CD;
2. The particular DRM technologies left open a security hole that was then exploited by virus writers;
3. The XCP technology apparently was enabled to collect and report usage information, again apparently without clear notification;
4. The software for removing the XCP rootkits created new problems;
5. First4Internet may have incorporated open source code without a proper license; and
6. Code was distributed that apparently breaks Apple's Fairplay DRM.

Snippets of the Halderman blogicle:

DRM In Your Next Car? Maybe

At least in the UK car market, DRM may be included in vehicle audio systems, this according to an article on NewCarNet. Consulting firm SBD reports that car manufacturers want to include DRM in association with allowing use of memory cards and flash memory drives. SBD commends against including DRM since interoperable standards have not yet emerged in the music market generally. Snippets:

OMA Standards For Mobile DRM - A Deal?

According to Reuters, mobile operators and MPEG LA have agreed on licensing terms for the OMA DRM standard. Snippets:

The licensing deal is expected to kickstart a long-anticipated open standard for the protection of digital entertainment such as music, film and video, offering more choice to consumers without the lock-in of a proprietary system.

"The beginning of 2006, that's what we're expecting," said Larry Horn, vice president of licensing at MPEG LA, which represents the key patent holders of digital rights management (DRM) software used in the open standard proposed by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA).

Proposed Cell Phone Spec Targets Security

A number of companies, including Authentec, Ericsson, France Telecom, IBM, Infineon, Intel, Lenovo, Motorola, Nokia, Philips, Samsung, Sony, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments, VeriSign, Vodaphone and Wave System, have banded together to deliver a hardware-security standard for cell phones, this according to a Security Pipeline article.  Snippets:

David Berlind on DRM

ZDNet's David Berlind has a longish  but worthwhile blogicle that essentiall addressses how DRM technologies are  being used by Apple, Microsoft, and others to gain competitive advantage while inconveniencing consumers. Among the valid points raised are the eventual failure or obsolescence of players and the need for interoperability among DRM technologies.  Snippets:

Microsoft's Machiavellian Manoeuvring

Check out security expert Bruce Schneier's comments on Microsoft and the Trusted Computing Group which has issued a best practices document, Design, Implementation, and Usage Principles for TPM-Based Platforms. Acronyms: "TMP" refers to a hardware-based Trusted Platform Module . "TNC" refers to a software-only Trusted Network Connect specification. Snippets from the Schneier article:

More On Sun's Open Media Commons

Stephen Shankland's CNET article on Sun's Open Media Commons is also worth reading. Among the points made is that Sun intends to creat a standard that is royalty-free because it gets around the variou s DRM patents belonging to InterTrust, ContentGuard, and MPEG LA. Designing around patents is not impossible, but given the numerous patent claims granted to a variety of companies--including Microsoft--it may prove difficult to accomplish without introducing serious inefficiencies and/or without omitting important capabilities. Snippets:

Open Media Commons - Sun

Several outlets, including Reuters, have carried articles reporting that Jonathan Schwartz, Sun Microsystems' COO, announced yesterday a new Sun DRM initiative called Open Media Commons that would create an open source, royalty-free DRM standard plus software.

It's about time the open source community seriously addressed the DRM issue; many open sourcers are vehemently anti-DRM so it will be interesting to see how the Open Media Commons initiative plays out. Kudos to Sun and Schwartz for throwing down the gauntlet. Snippets:

DVD Blue Lasers, DRM, Compression, etc

Mike Weston's semi-rant on blue laser DVDs and related issues is worth a read. Snippets:

DRM and Open Source

Timothy R. Butler,  Editor-in-Chief of Open for Business, has a reasoned view of many of the issues that DRM poses for the FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) community. Snippets:

Copyprotected CDs, sales, iTunes, etc

Pollstar has a useful article that addresses the lack of DRM / Copy protection interoperability because of Apple's unwillingness, thus far, to license its FairPlay DRM. Snippets:

Will Apple Actually Sue Real?

Will Apple will actually sue Real over Real's breaking Apple's FairPlay DRM?  Real apparently admitted that it has left itself open to a suit in a recent SEC filing. Macworld, says:

Open Source Document DRM

Neil McAllister's InfoWorld article, In Praise of Digital Rights Management, strikes the right balance.  Putting DRM in the hands of very one is, in my view, a most important goal. Snippets:

Another DRM As Competitive Weapon Example

Writing in PCWorld, Martyn Williams, of IDG News Service, recounts how SK Telecom is using DRM as a competitive weapon, some would say as an anti-competition weapon. Snippets:

DRM's Demon Days

Writing in EContent, Michele Manafy reports on a recent panel discussion that in part  addressed content distribution and DRM. Several calls for open standards for DRM. Still, it may well be continue to be the case that many distribution companies don't know what rights they have, as pointed out by Shahid Kahn.

Will Apple Be Forced To License Its Fairplay DRM?

An article in The Inquirer (UK) wonders whether Apple will be forced to license Fairplay. At least one French consumer group is suing. Snippets:

Kiwi's Concerned About DRM

According to an article in Computerworld (NZ) the NZ government is concerned about rights management and the implications of long-term storage of protected digital information.
Snippets:

Comcast Joins Coral

The Register (UK) has a useful  article on Comcast joining the Coral DRM standards group. Snippets:

The Next Big Consumer Thing

Electronic News has an interesting discussion of the next big thing in the consumer space. Snippets:

Mobile DRM Standards

Telecom oriented publication Billing World & OSS Today has an article on interoperability and standards in the mobile world, including DRM. Snippets:

Interview With UMG's Barney Wragg

Barney Wragg, vice president of the eLabs arm of Universal Music Group, was interviewed by TheFeature's Justin Pearse. [TheFeature is funded by Nokia but claims editorial independence.) Snippets:

Identity Rights Management

Integration Developer News has a good article by Adarbad Master on identity and identity rights management. (Alert: many many acronyms but useful to interested parties nonetheless.)  Snippets:

Developers Key to Windows Mobile 5.0 Success

CMP publications are running an article saying that developers are key to the success of Microsoft's Mobile 5.0. Snippets:

Napster CTO On DRM

In part 2 of a very informative BetaNews interview with Bill Pence, the Napster CTO has this to say about DRM standards:

MSFT's Portable Media Center: A Threat?

ZDNet's David Berlind has blogged his assessment of Microsoft's increasing traction in the portable media space.  Without taking anything away from Berlind or Microsoft, monocultures in this vertical seem less likely than in the desktop office application space (read "Office"). 

MSFT achieved what some call a "natural monopoly" because of document exchange issues and economies of scale resulting from application standardization. I'll hazard a guess that there are already too many different players--iPods, Cell phones, etc.--in the market place and more are coming. There seems to be agreement on encoding methods for both video and audio. And so rights interoperability will become important to some. Consumers and their advocates are already demanding  interoperability. Whether they'll get it remains to be seen.

Snippet:

More on The Mobile DRM Licensing Fracas

Most of the articles in the "mobile" category here have  covered  the ongoing fracas between the MPEG-LA group and cellular operators regarding patent licensing for DRM. This week numerous outlets covered the latest.  John Borland has a good overview article. Snippets: