On interoperability of DRM

Abstract

The use of Digital Rights Management (DRM) technologies for the enforcement of digital media usage models is currently subject of a heated debate. Content creators, owners and distributors argue that DRM technologies are needed to protect their Intellectual Property (IP) from unauthorized access. A counter argument from the Information Technology (IT) and Consumer Electronics (CE) industries states that DRM technologies are obstacles to innovation. Academic institutions add to the discussion by claiming that DRM technologies and associated legislation interfere with their academic mission. Yet another point of view is provided by consumer organizations who claim that DRM technology interferes with basic personal rights, such as the right to make back-up copies for personal use. Finally, national governments express concern that the deployment of DRM technology violates open market rules and regulations and is associated with anti-competitive behavior. This last issue has lately gained increased attention in a number of European countries. In this talk we argue that a number of the concern listed above can be resolved by introducing a sufficiently powerful DRM interoperability framework. In particular we discuss the CORAL DRM interoperability framework that allows multiple DRM systems to seamlessly work together while at the same time requiring minimal modification to participating DRM systems. After introducing the problem of DRM interoperability the following topics will be addressed: (1) approaches to DRM interoperability, (2) introduction to the CORAL architecture, (3) building ecosystems on top of Coral, (4) integrating DRM systems into CORAL and (5) deploying CORAL. We end the talk by going back to the initial problem statement, summarizing to what extent CORAL resolves the identified issues and what work remains to be done.