virtual goods, ilmenau, 27.-29.05.2004 fzk-itas knud böhle slide 1 introduction what to expect from...

Virtual Goods, Ilmenau, 27.-29.05.2004 • FZK-ITAS Knud Böhle Slide 1

Introduction

What to Expect from Technology Assessment Shaping DRM ?

Knud Böhle

Institut für Technikfolgenabschätzung und Systemanalyse (ITAS) Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe in der Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft

Outline

I. Introduction

II. What is Technology Assessment and what‘s it good for ?

III. The „Informed Dialogue“ approach and project INDICARE

IV. Some hypotheses and questions on DRM for debate


What is Technology Assessment and what‘s it good for ?

Definition of Technology Assessment

Technology Assessment embraces scientific analysis of

technology-related societal problems and the organization of

communication about them in order to contribute to their

solution (translation from Grunwald 2002, p.52)



Functions of Technology Assessment

► support decision-making and legislation,

► support the allocation of funds for R&D,

► cope with technology-related conflicts, and

► contribute to a socially acceptable shaping of

technology.


Typical features of TA projects

► separation of true potential from hype

► panoramic view

► “long-termism”

► future orientation



DRM and DRMs are a case for TA

► there are many processes of regulation and legislation in the making at multiple levels (national, EU, globally),

► the question is open, if special funding for DRM research is required,

►DRM issues are rather conflictive (“copyright industries” vs. academia, libraries, grass-root, and between sectors of industry),

►concerns of consumers, citizens, and handicapped persons are hardly present in the actual discourse.



Definition of Informed Dialogue

An Informed Dialogue, as we understand it, is a combination of

analysis and communication. It is a form of organized

communication and debate stimulated and maintained by

reliable, good quality input, based e.g. on facts, investigation,

and profound analyses. Internet technology and services enable

this type of communication.

The „Informed Dialogue“ Approach


Potential Benefits of the „Informed Dialogue“

► First, it is open, adaptive, flexible, and self-organizing

► Second, it can be a “learning system

► Third, it provides real benefits for participants



An „Informed Dialogue“ about DRM is requested by many…

►by Rainer Kuhlen, German UNESCO delegate at the World

Summit on the Information Society,

►by the organizers of the first broad German DRM project

sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Research of North-

Rhine Westphalia

►by a US think tank established by the Committee for

Economic Development, a US advisory board of 250 industry

leaders, and last not least…

►by the European Commission in its eContent Programme



INDICARE: “The Informed Dialogue about Consumer Acceptability of DRM Solutions in Europe" funded by the European Commission

at: http://www.indicare.org

Main Objective: to establish an Informed Dialogue about DRM solutions in Europe acceptable for creators, small and medium enterprises, and in particular for consumers and citizens.


INDICARE Partners


Website

Weblogs

Archives

Newsletter

Input Deliverables Electronic Discussion Forum Specifically Targeted Output Deliverables

Newsletter

State of the Art Reports

Five Workshops + reports

Consumer Surveys

Guide for Users of DRM

Consumers’ Guide to eContent

DRM Policy Papers



Networking and Community Building

INDICARETeam

► Virtual partners,

► eContent projects,

► DRM projects

► Workshop participants

► journalists

► etc.

INDICARE Core Network

Visitors / users of INDICARE

Ele

ctro

nic

Dis

cuss

ion

Fo

rum



TA studies about DRM

►The Digital DilemmaNational Academy of Science, Washington 2000

►Digital Rights ManagementTechnological, Economic, Legal and Political Aspectsby Eberhard Becker et al., Berlin Heidelberg 2003

►Promoting Innovation and Economic Growththe Special Problem of Digital Intellectual PropertyDigital Connections Council of the Committee for Economic Development, Washington 2004

Hypotheses and questions on DRM for debate


Legal framework

„work“ as expression of ideas

Copyright, innovation and growth

Technological developments

Institutional setting

“Copy” as central act


Background: The digital revolution and intellectual property rights

Vision: “sustainable information society” ?

What’s different with digital objects or the Crisis of Copyright

Long-term structural change

Visions and the nitty-gritty

Nitty-gritty: real word problems of users and consumers


1. Digital „works“ blow up the notion of a „work“ as an expression of ideas by a creator

► Derivative works created by reuse and modification► Transformative works by translation, graphical

presentation, visualization, filtering, morphing, text-voice transformation and vice versa…

► Increasing relevance of “semanto-technological” objects such as huge databases, computer simulations, or computer models;

► Continuation of the creative process at home;► Modification of works by interactive use and co-operative

changes;► Split of works into a multitude of separate digital objects

to be marketed separately.



2. The Foundations of Copyright have become insufficient to determine the rights of creators, rights holders, and consumers with respect to digital goods

► At least as important as copy control are access control, and control of use; this seems to require a unified approach balancing access rights, copy rights, and usage rights for all types of digital goods and services.

► In addition it is hold that the concept of “copy” is too vaguely with digital objects as copying takes always place at least in an ephemeral form to RAM, caches etc.



3. The traditional underpinning of the relation between DRM and innovation falls short…

► Knowledge produced privately and sold privately, never entering the public domain, is often overlooked.

► New forms of innovation like “user-led innovation”, “co-operative, incremental innovation”, and “derivative innovation” are not systematically reflected.

► The Internet as “nested innovation system” (hardware, software, services, content) is seldom taken as reference point to assess the relation between IPR and innovation.



4. The institutional setting required to establish a balanced DRM regime is unclear, just three questions…

► If DRM technology would be more and more widely deployed, would this gradually rule out collecting societies and make them finally obsolete?

► Libraries have been important for public access. Should there be a legal duty of content providers to deposit an instance of each digital work in a publicly–accessible library? What should be the rules governing the use of protected and licensed digital content in a publicly–accessible library?

► Archiving and preserving our cultural heritage and ensuring a record of intellectual discourse are critical tasks of society (NSF 2000, S. 206). The question is how to.



5. There are many concerns about the legal framework,

but two of them seem to be crucial

► How is it feasible to provide for effective technical protection measures on the one hand and to grant exceptions from copyright on the other hand? Is this an irresolvable contradiction? Would it help to take off the exemptions from copyright law, and to create „a new body of information law to safeguard the public domain“ (Dreier und Nolte in LNCS, S. 501)?

► How to avoid that private DRMs overrule legal provisions? (L. Lessig’s “code as code”). Is it technically feasible to design DRMs in a value-centered way „so that important policy and legal values are preserved” (Bechtold in LNCS, S. 599)?



6. Long-term development of DRM is a matter of technical

infrastructure too…

Standardisation and interoperability is crucial. Does an effective, global DRM-infrastructure require a huge

infrastructure of the PKI type?

How important are TC, secure hardware and operating systems for effective DRMs?

Is it likely that the extended wireless infrastructure will be more important for the delivery of protected content

than the Internet as we know it ?

Is it naïve to think of the empowerment of simple or private online-content creators by technical bottom-up DRM solutions? Where is the PGP-like DRMs?



7. Future technological developments

What’s the state of DRM technology?


When will a particular technology be available or widespread?

Source: BSI 2003, CT 2010+3, p. 314

Majority of experts believes within X years

Asymmetric watermarking techniques available 3

Robust and secure watermarking techniques available 5

Use of content requiring previous identification of user widespread:

5

Hardware-based DRM mechanisms widespread 7

DRM mechanisms incorporated in Operating Systems widespread

Not before 10


7. Future technological developments /cont.

Are there disruptive technological innovations to expect?

Rights locker architectures?

Bandwidth ?

Storage Space ?

What else ???



8. A vision for the development of DRM and DRM Technologies

“sustainable information society” ?

Lisbon goals ?

Constitution ?

What else ???



9. The nitty-gritty every day problems

The hassle for consumers

B2B rights clearing, especially multimedia

Integration issues: legacy system, payment system

Courts don’t understand DRMs

What else ???



Thanks

for your attention !!!

The end…

virtual goods, ilmenau, 27.-29.05.2004 fzk-itas knud böhle slide 1 introduction what to expect from...

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