I acknowledge that the title of this column is strange. Aside from the fact that most savvy music listeners (justifiably) hate DRM, the very idea of using open-source software to enforce digital rights management runs counter to everything commonly assumed about the technology: that it needs to be secret, obscure, proprietary.
But open-source DRM is exactly what Sun Microsystems has proposed, with its DReaM initiative. Its goal is to promulgate an open-source architecture for digital rights management that would cut across devices, regardless of the manufacturer, and assign rights to individuals rather than gadgets.
Assuming it catches on, this would create a bizarro world version of the copy-protection landscape. Today, consumers largely scorn DRM schemes in favor of unprotected MP3s ripped from CDs or downloaded off P2P networks. One reason for this is because iTunes-purchased music only plays on iPods, and subscription files from services such as Rhapsody only play on Microsoft Janus-compatible MP3 players. If DReaM works, consumers will be able to access their purchased songs through a number of providers, and using a wide variety of devices.
Sun is talking about a sea change on the scale of the switch from the barter system to paper money. Like money, this standardized DRM system would have to be acknowledged universally, and its rules would have to be easily converted to other systems (the way U.S. dollars are officially used only in America but can be easily converted into other currency). Consumers would no longer have to negotiate separate deals with each provider in order to access the same catalog (more or less). Instead, you -- the person, not your device -- would have the right to listen to songs, and those rights would follow you around, as long as you're using an approved device (more on that later).
The idea of Lawrence Lessig endorsing any DRM scheme is enough to make certain heads explode. But the "fair use" champion approved Sun's plan, because Sun worked with the Creative Commons "pretty much from the outset, to support their license definitions," according to Tom Jacobs, director of engineering at Sun Labs and the project lead of the Open Media Commons.
Lessig's statement read, "In a world where DRM has become ubiquitous, we need to ensure that the ecology for creativity is bolstered, not stifled, by technology. We applaud Sun's efforts to rally the community around the development of open-source, royalty-free DRM standards that support 'fair use' and that don't block the development of Creative Commons ideals."
Assuming Sun supports fair use by including the means for copyright works to be duplicated for educational purposes, parody and criticism, our current concept of fair use should survive this new DRM. That said, the EFF has its doubts. I have my own doubts, too. Sun's DReaM "Usage Scenarios" document says that its fair-use mechanism is purely optional for rights holders. I'd like to see Sun make this a mandatory part of the DReaM licensing rules.
Another potential objection to Sun's plan is that it sounds a lot like existing Microsoft or Apple DRM, in which secure content only plays on certified devices. But there's one major difference in that area: The certification process would be run by a standards body, rather than by individual companies.
I asked Jacobs to explain who would certify the players, and what would block the non-certified players from playing DReaM-protected content. "There will be an independent legal entity whose sole job it would be to take submissions of devices or players and do certification and testing of the device," he said. He expects that group will be in place by the summer.
Any manufacturer in the world would be able to add support for DReaM files at a negligible expense (remember, this is open source) and submit its device to the standards body for certification, similar to the way CSS worked with DVD players. Players and programs that aren't certified cannot legally use the DReaM scheme to play protected content.
Assuming companies such as Samsung and Panasonic (both of which attended Sun's recent Open Media Community Workshop) jump at the chance to include DReaM in their devices, the next piece of the puzzle would be for online music distributors to adopt the system. With internet investment on the rise and record labels growing increasingly frustrated with Apple's stranglehold on the digital music market, I don't doubt that any number of upstart services would be willing to gamble on selling DReaM-protected files, assuming the device support is there.
Jacobs expects the fiercest resistance to come from backers of existing, closed-source DRM. "If you happen to be one of those handful of winners -- there are probably two winners at the moment -- you want to make sure there's a lot of FUD out there about how hard it is for the whole world to switch over to anything other than what they've already got. But in reality, everyone else is on the outside, looking with great envy at the potential for success that's been shown by this first generation of digital distribution solutions. And so all these other suppliers on the outside are looking at how … they (can) get in."
"They're looking for a solution just like what we're describing here," Jacobs says.
Maybe this is the free market finally waking up to do something about a system that everyone (except for Apple and Microsoft) seems to agree is broken. As Jacobs pointed out to me, it was once necessary to code web pages for multiple browsers, before standards were put in place that allowed them to be coded only once. If Sun's DReaM comes true, the same could happen for protected music.
Source: http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,70548-0.html?tw=wn_index_3
But open-source DRM is exactly what Sun Microsystems has proposed, with its DReaM initiative. Its goal is to promulgate an open-source architecture for digital rights management that would cut across devices, regardless of the manufacturer, and assign rights to individuals rather than gadgets.
Assuming it catches on, this would create a bizarro world version of the copy-protection landscape. Today, consumers largely scorn DRM schemes in favor of unprotected MP3s ripped from CDs or downloaded off P2P networks. One reason for this is because iTunes-purchased music only plays on iPods, and subscription files from services such as Rhapsody only play on Microsoft Janus-compatible MP3 players. If DReaM works, consumers will be able to access their purchased songs through a number of providers, and using a wide variety of devices.
Sun is talking about a sea change on the scale of the switch from the barter system to paper money. Like money, this standardized DRM system would have to be acknowledged universally, and its rules would have to be easily converted to other systems (the way U.S. dollars are officially used only in America but can be easily converted into other currency). Consumers would no longer have to negotiate separate deals with each provider in order to access the same catalog (more or less). Instead, you -- the person, not your device -- would have the right to listen to songs, and those rights would follow you around, as long as you're using an approved device (more on that later).
The idea of Lawrence Lessig endorsing any DRM scheme is enough to make certain heads explode. But the "fair use" champion approved Sun's plan, because Sun worked with the Creative Commons "pretty much from the outset, to support their license definitions," according to Tom Jacobs, director of engineering at Sun Labs and the project lead of the Open Media Commons.
Lessig's statement read, "In a world where DRM has become ubiquitous, we need to ensure that the ecology for creativity is bolstered, not stifled, by technology. We applaud Sun's efforts to rally the community around the development of open-source, royalty-free DRM standards that support 'fair use' and that don't block the development of Creative Commons ideals."
Assuming Sun supports fair use by including the means for copyright works to be duplicated for educational purposes, parody and criticism, our current concept of fair use should survive this new DRM. That said, the EFF has its doubts. I have my own doubts, too. Sun's DReaM "Usage Scenarios" document says that its fair-use mechanism is purely optional for rights holders. I'd like to see Sun make this a mandatory part of the DReaM licensing rules.
Another potential objection to Sun's plan is that it sounds a lot like existing Microsoft or Apple DRM, in which secure content only plays on certified devices. But there's one major difference in that area: The certification process would be run by a standards body, rather than by individual companies.
I asked Jacobs to explain who would certify the players, and what would block the non-certified players from playing DReaM-protected content. "There will be an independent legal entity whose sole job it would be to take submissions of devices or players and do certification and testing of the device," he said. He expects that group will be in place by the summer.
Any manufacturer in the world would be able to add support for DReaM files at a negligible expense (remember, this is open source) and submit its device to the standards body for certification, similar to the way CSS worked with DVD players. Players and programs that aren't certified cannot legally use the DReaM scheme to play protected content.
Assuming companies such as Samsung and Panasonic (both of which attended Sun's recent Open Media Community Workshop) jump at the chance to include DReaM in their devices, the next piece of the puzzle would be for online music distributors to adopt the system. With internet investment on the rise and record labels growing increasingly frustrated with Apple's stranglehold on the digital music market, I don't doubt that any number of upstart services would be willing to gamble on selling DReaM-protected files, assuming the device support is there.
Jacobs expects the fiercest resistance to come from backers of existing, closed-source DRM. "If you happen to be one of those handful of winners -- there are probably two winners at the moment -- you want to make sure there's a lot of FUD out there about how hard it is for the whole world to switch over to anything other than what they've already got. But in reality, everyone else is on the outside, looking with great envy at the potential for success that's been shown by this first generation of digital distribution solutions. And so all these other suppliers on the outside are looking at how … they (can) get in."
"They're looking for a solution just like what we're describing here," Jacobs says.
Maybe this is the free market finally waking up to do something about a system that everyone (except for Apple and Microsoft) seems to agree is broken. As Jacobs pointed out to me, it was once necessary to code web pages for multiple browsers, before standards were put in place that allowed them to be coded only once. If Sun's DReaM comes true, the same could happen for protected music.
Source: http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,70548-0.html?tw=wn_index_3
