Following the teleconference on 21 May, I have submitted a summary of XACML status to the W3C interest group on DRM <
www-drm@w3.org> and the MPEG-21 <
mpeg-21@starlab.net> discussion lists. I have also held separate telephone conversations with Scott Edwards, chair of the Open eBook Forum (OeBF) Rights and Rules Working Group (R&R WG), and Brad Gandee, XrML Evangelist for ContentGuard, and am awaiting responses from the Rigo Wenig (W3C Co-Chair of the W3C DRM Workshop held in January) and Rob Koenen (Chair of the MPEG Requirements Group). The purpose of the above activities was to initiate dialogue between the XACML TC and related standards organisations. Short summaries of the various standards groups are included below. Note that the summaries are the work of the author of this email who apologies for any inaccuracies (corrections welcome). On the subject of XrML, I raised two important issues with Brad Gandee: 1/ The IPR held by ContentGuard with respect to the use of XrML (and rights expression languages generally) 2/ The use of XrML as a (partial) basis for the work of XACML. Brad is keen to progress the conversation and (like me) is concerned at the proliferation of potentially competing standards efforts. ContentGuard is keen to promote the re-use of its work on XrML where possible and is in the process of setting up an independent forum to take ownership of the XrML and its future developments. Hopefully, this will address the fears pertaining to IPR. I have suggested to Brad that he takes membership of OASIS in order to participate in XACML discussions where appropriate. On the subject of liaison with the Open eBook Forum, Scott Edwards has raised the possibility of XACML representatives attending the forthcoming general meeting of OeBF to be held in San Francisco on 18-21 June 2001. A one hour session was suggested (1/2 hour presentation on activities, followed by a 1/2 hour discussion, with overflow time possible). The presentation would be to members of OeBF's Rights and Rules Working Group and in the presence of the OeBF's Strategic Relations Committee. The most likely date is 21 June with second favourite 20 June. A similar invitation is being extended to MPEG-21, so the session may be very useful for getting several standards groups in the same room at the same time. I plan to be in attendance on both days. I would welcome feedback on the above and suggestions for next steps. I will report further progress and I receive responses from the various contacts. /Dave. _ ______________________________________________________________ Dr David J. Parrott, Chartered Engineer. Chief Technology Office Reuters Limited, 85 Fleet Street, London EC4P 4AJ, UK. Direct Line: +44 (0)20 7542 9830, Fax: +44 (0)20 7542 8314 Email:
David.Parrott@reuters.com,
dparrott@acm.org Summaries follow: The W3C DRM Interest Group The W3C's interest group on DRM met for the first (and only) time in January 2001 (see
http://www.w3.org/2000/12/drm-ws/ ). The meeting was initiated by IPRSystems (
http://www.iprsystems.com ), also responsible for the Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL, see
http://odrl.net ) with the aim of prompting the W3C to act towards creating a global DRM markup standard (a full workshop report is available at
http://www.w3.org/2000/12/drm-ws/workshop-report.html ). The overall feeling of the workshop was that W3C is in a strong position to act as a coordinator in the creation of a Rights Management Framework , in cooperation with other standards bodies. At this time, no decision has been taken by the W3C as to whether (and if so how) this might happen. (Reuters presented a position paper at the workshop.) Open eBook Forum (Rights and Rules Working Group) The OeBF (
http://www.openebook.org/ ) was formed in January 2000 with the remit to create and maintain standards and promote the successful adoption of electronic books. The OeBF followed on from the earlier Open eBook Initiative, formed in late 1998. Essentially, the OeBF is looking standardising the data formats and metadata associated with the publication of books and periodicals. From that initial goal, however, it is likely that the group will extend its horizon to encompass more general electronic publishing. The OeBF Rights and Rules Working Group (R&R W/G) was formally created this month (following initial work laid down by an interest group of the same name). The R&R W/G has set out to create an XML-based markup language describing rights of access and obligations pertaining to electronic publications. The group is in communication with W3C and MPEG-21. (Reuters is a member of the OeBF R&R W/G.) EBX Working Group formally combined its operations with the OeBF during a brief ceremony at the General Meeting of members held this year in Paris, France, on March 19, 2001. MPEG-21 The MPEG-21 Multimedia Framework extends the remit of the Motion Picture Experts Group (an ISO organisation) to include any multimedia data ). The MPEG-21 introduction document (see
http://www.cselt.it/mpeg/standards/mpeg-21/mpeg-21.htm ) lists the seven key elements of MPEG-21 as: 1/ Digital Item Declaration 2/ Digital Item Identification and Description 3/ Content Handling and Usage 4/ Intellectual Property Management and Protection 5/ Terminals and Networks 6/ Content Representation 7/ Event Reporting Of the above, numbers 1, 2, and 4 are probably the most relevant to the XACML work. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our Internet site at
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