A group of large media and technology companies has
unveiled a specification for a technology that will distribute
digital content to consumers online while honouring complex
contractual relationships that exist among media
owners.
The group, which calls itself the Content Reference Forum (CRF),
is a cross-industry standards organisation, whose members include
Universal Music Group, Microsoft, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone
and VeriSign .
The goal is to design a technology platform that enables media
companies and other digital content owners to distribute content
across different technology environments and geographical
regions.
"Nobody has addressed the issues of how to make [online content
distribution] effective and seamless," said Albhy Galuten, chairman
of the CRF and a former advanced technical lead at Universal Music
Group..
For example, a Top 10 music file link from a music fan in the US
sent to a friend in France should take into account that user's
language preferences. If the user does not personally own a copy of
the song, they should be able to purchase it in a way that takes
into account the various contractual agreements that music
companies and distributors have for music sales in France.
"It's a means to resolve a content reference so that consumers
can locate, buy and acquire appropriate instances of that content,"
he said.
Existing online music and content distribution services, such as
Apple's iTunes and Roxio's Napster, amount to hostile divisions
within the music industry, with companies building their own
distribution systems to encourage sales of other products, such as
the iPod portable music player.
"There's no reason you shouldn't have access to the first Led
Zeppelin album on a Sony device, your PC or Napster," said
Galuten.
The draft specifications, known as the CRF Baseline Profile
v1.0, are on the group's website at
http://www.crforum.org. The
specifications cover formats for "content references", which the
CRF defines as "data packages that uniquely identify content and
the context in which it will be used". Galuten said that might
include information about the consumer's specific environment.
Also explained in the specifications is a new language called
the "Contracts Expression Language" (CEL), which is designed to
"express and enforce contractual agreements". That will allow
information in a content link to be compared against a database of
contractual agreements, so companies can ensure that the
appropriate compensation is paid to each "value chain player" that
helped that user obtain the media.
The CRF will build on the work of other standards groups such as
the Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG) 21 and the Organization
for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (Oasis).
"We're not trying to reinvent the wheel," Galuten said.
At the same time, CRF members did not feel that their work fit
within any of those groups. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
lacked an intellectual property policy that was strong enough to
satisfy CRF participants, and Oasis lacked a sufficient focus on
content distribution and commerce.
In addition, group members found their efforts on the Oasis
Rights Language Technical Committee stymied by the Electronic
Frontier Foundation (EFF), because of what Galuten characterised as
Oasis' "difficult" governance rules.
Instead, the CRF will adopt technology from MPEG, Oasis and
other groups and also try to build a technical framework that
"plugs into" the work of those organisations, according to Dmitry
Radbel, a member of the Requirements and Architecture Working Group
at the CRF and a vice president of advanced technologies at
Universal Music Group.
The CRF Baseline Profile Version 1.0 will be available for
review and public comment for 90 days, after which the group will
incorporate suggested changes and vote on whether to make the
specifications an official standard, Galuten said.
The CRF also expects to demonstrate technology based on its
specifications in the near future. Examples of online reference
services will soon be available, one run by Universal and the other
by VeriSign. The group also expected to announce a Microsoft Media
Player plug-in that will enable users to follow CRF content links
to purchase or play media files with that program, Radbel said.
When asked to comment on the CRF's plans, EFF staff attorney
Jason Schultz said the CRF's specifications are the foundation for
a digital rights management system, about which the EFF has "deep
concerns".
The Baseline Profile Version 1.0 seems to envision a system
where content owners put copyright content in a locked box, then
decide who gets to take it out of that box and for what reasons, he
added.
The restrictions on use stipulated by the CRF's Content
References may deny access to individuals who wish to use media
files for parody or political expression, an exercise of civil
liberties guaranteed by the US Constitution, Schultz said.
Architectures such as those proposed by the CRF may do a good
job of representing the rights of content owners, but could have a
"chilling effect" on speech and artistic expression by consumers
who use that content under "fair use" guidelines that are typically
reviewed by a judge, he said.
While standardisation and interoperability are laudable goals,
the EFF is concerned that the CRF does not count any consumer
advocacy groups among its members.
"We urge them to find a way ... to include a public or consumer
voice in their efforts, because clearly it's not set up for that
right now," said Schultz.
Paul Roberts writes for IDG News Service