[LINK] Re: Coral to Apple: We've got your interoperable DRM right here!

Roger Clarke Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au
Thu Feb 15 15:58:43 AEDT 2007


At 15:39 +1100 15/2/07, <Russell.CLARKE at Dest.gov.au> wrote:
>http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070213-8829.html
...
>After reading Steve Jobs' "Thoughts on Music," Coral president Jack 
>Lacy wants Jobs to know that he would be welcome to join, and that 
>he would not have to release any of his precious secrets to the 
>burning light of the daystar.
>
>The letter begins by praising Jobs' "interest in interoperability" 
>[but tries to deflect him away from abandonment of DRM into Coral's 
>proposed adoption of DRMs which inter-operate]
...
>Coral is not itself a DRM scheme; it is a method for translating between
>DRM schemes. ...
>Coral might work in theory, but the group's growth (like that of its
>namesake) has been... slow. ...

I've yet to see any such meta-scheme work, in any relevant context. 
Can anyone point to anything convincing?  For example, W3C's JEPI was 
a potentially good one (for payment schemes).  But, like all the 
other courageous multipartite schemes, it disappeared without trace.

I have some sympathy with this bit:
>  ... Coral ... [asserts] that interoperable DRM is not a technical 
>problem but a business one ...

The bit about "not a technical problem" is an over-statement, but 
it's true that the business problem is massive.

I summarised the challenges of multpartite schemes here (in the 
context of chipcard-based payment schemes).  What was true in 1996 
still is:
http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/EC/CBPSPreface.html#Summ

-- 
Roger Clarke                  http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/

Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/

Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng  Australian National University
Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program      University of Hong Kong
Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW



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