Re: [office] DRM issues

From
Nathaniel S Borenstein <>
Date
2005-11-08T15:00:43+00:00
ID
Thread
Re: [office] DRM issues
I like this basic approach.  We
need to be able to say, definitively, that ODF can work with a variety
of possible DRM mechanisms, and outline how it might be done.  That
should be enough to prevent DRM from becoming a leading FUD topic for our
opponents, as well as to give some guidance to the people who are actually
going to try to make this work.  -- Nathaniel

Patrick Durusau <> wrote
on 11/07/2005 01:28:31 PM:

> Greetings!

> 

> I think Gary's point about ODF being an open document format is well

> taken but do think some nod in the direction of DRM issues might be
in 

> order.

> 

> Afterall, if I want to write an implementation that otherwise uses
ODF 

> and wish to layer a DRM solution on top of it, surely that is a 

> legitimate use of the work product of this committee.

> 

> Granted, it is possible to encrypt parts of an ODF document along
the 

> lines that is used by Adobe, but that does not address issues such
as 

> copy, print, modify, etc.

> 

> The senario where government agencies will want to regulate access
to 

> certain parts of a document is a very real one in secure environments,

> which appear to be on the rise within the US government. I don't know
of 

> any reason why they could not use ODF, provided they layered an 

> appropriate DRM/security system on top of the format.

> 

> Suggestion: What if the various DRM technologies were reviewed and
a 

> report issued saying that ODF is compatible with DRM technologies
that 

> impose restrictions on addressable portions of a document, plus some

> statement about DRM being application specific?

> 

> I would hesitate to go beyond such a report as the entire DRM question,

> particularly if it includes secure environments would take us far
afield 

> from what I think most of us would consider to be ODF questions. 

> Security/DRM questions are very important but also involve 

> network/application architectures, encryption, security protocols,
and a 

> host of other issues that are really beyond questions of an open 

> document format.

> 

> For example, in our telephone conference today the question of 

> concealing an illustration was raised. Yes, most of us think about
only 

> concealing the illustration but there are use cases for concealing
the 

> fact that an illustration ever appeared in the document. Which would

> require suppressing appearance of the illustration in an illustration

> list, the illustration itself (and the fact it occurred at all), plus

> any references to the illustration. That is certainly doable, but
not 

> something I think we want to spend time specifying in an open document

> format TC.

> 

> Hope everyone is having a great day!

> 

> Patrick

> 

> PS: I would be willing to volunteer to work with others who are 

> interested in creating a ODF/DRM report for the TC to approve and
issue.

> 

> -- 

> Patrick Durusau

> 

> Chair, V1 - Text Processing: Office and Publishing Systems Interface

> Co-Editor, ISO 13250, Topic Maps -- Reference Model

> Member, Text Encoding Initiative Board of Directors, 2003-2005

> 

> Topic Maps: Human, not artificial, intelligence at work! 

> 

> 

> 

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