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General Category => Off the Record => Topic started by: Darth Wagtaros on July 28, 2009, 06:03:36 PM

Title: Bad News for Tim - AP jumps on DRM
Post by: Darth Wagtaros on July 28, 2009, 06:03:36 PM
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/07/drm-for-news-inside-the-aps-plan-to-wrap-its-content.ars (http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/07/drm-for-news-inside-the-aps-plan-to-wrap-its-content.ars)

Content not posted in case the DRM Police show up and break vM's legs.
Title: Re: Bad News for Tim - AP jumps on DRM
Post by: jimmy olsen on July 28, 2009, 06:15:11 PM
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on July 28, 2009, 06:03:36 PM
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/07/drm-for-news-inside-the-aps-plan-to-wrap-its-content.ars (http://%20%20the%20associated%20press%20last%20week%20rolled%20out%20its%20brave%20new%20plan%20to%20%22apply%20protective%20format%20to%20news.%22%20the%20ap%27s%20news%20registry%20will%20%22tag%20and%20track%20all%20ap%20content%20online%20to%20assure%20compliance%20with%20terms%20of%20use,%22%20and%20it%20will%20provide%20a%20%22platform%20for%20protect,%20point,%20and%20pay.%22%20that%27s%20a%20lot%20of%20%22p%22-prefaced%20jargon,%20but%20it%20boils%20down%20to%20a%20sort%20of%20drm%20for%20news%c3%a2%c2%80%c2%94%22enforcement,%22%20in%20ap-speak.%20%20but%20how%20could%20that%20possibly%20work?%20It%20was%20good%20enough%20for%20music...%20%20Turns%20out%20that%20it%20won%27t,%20not%20really,%20not%20if%20the%20goal%20is%20to%20exercise%20control%20over%20AP%20content%20by%20those%20not%20voluntarily%20disposed%20to%20play%20by%20the%20AP%27s%20rules.%20First,%20let%27s%20try%20to%20make%20sense%20of%20what%27s%20being%20proposed.%20According%20to%20the%20AP%27s%20announcement,%20the%20news%20registry%20it%20plans%20to%20set%20up%20relies%20on%20a%20new%20%22microformat,%22%20described%20thusly:%20%20%20%20%20%20The%20microformat%20will%20essentially%20encapsulate%20AP%20and%20member%20content%20in%20an%20informational%20%22wrapper%22%20that%20includes%20a%20digital%20permissions%20framework%20that%20lets%20publishers%20specify%20how%20their%20content%20is%20to%20be%20used%20online%20and%20which%20also%20supplies%20the%20critical%20information%20needed%20to%20track%20and%20monitor%20its%20usage.%20%20%20%20%20%20The%20registry%20also%20will%20enable%20content%20owners%20and%20publishers%20to%20more%20effectively%20manage%20and%20control%20digital%20use%20of%20their%20content,%20by%20providing%20detailed%20metrics%20on%20content%20consumption,%20payment%20services%20and%20enforcement%20support.%20It%20will%20support%20a%20variety%20of%20payment%20models,%20including%20pay%20walls.%20%20To%20make%20the%20system%20clear,%20the%20AP%20also%20released%20this%20not-in-any-way%20confusing%20chart%20of%20what%20it%20intends%20to%20do.%20AP-chart.jpg%20%20The%20%22wrappers%22%20and%20%22digital%20permissions%20frameworks%22%20that%20it%20hopes%20to%20implement%20sound%20like%20tough%20encryption,%20but%20they%20aren%27t.%20Instead,%20the%20AP%20is%20simply%20relying%20on%20a%20newly-developed%20microformat%20called%20hNews.%20It%27s%20a%20simple%20HTML-based%20tagging%20scheme%20for%20marking%20up%20news%20content%20and%20making%20headlines,%20author%20names,%20and%20permitted%20uses%20machine-readable%20and%20search-engine%20friendly.%20%28See%20an%20example.%29%20hNews%20is%20funded%20by%20major%20foundations,%20and%20all%20of%20its%20tools%20and%20specs%20will%20be%20released%20as%20open-source%20software.%20%20In%20what%20way%20does%20this%20scheme%20%22wrap%22%20and%20%22protect%22%20the%20news?%20It%20doesn%27t;%20it%20simply%20marks%20it%20up,%20and%20adding%20tags%20expressing%20a%20content%20creator%27s%20wishes%20on%20reuse%20has%20no%20bearing%20on%20someone%27s%20rights%20under%20US%20copyright%20law.%20What%20it%20does%20do%20is%20provide%20organizations%20that%20use%20hNews%20a%20way%20to%20release%20more%20rights%20than%20are%20granted%20under%20copyright%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%94in%20essence,%20a%20sort%20of%20%22Creative%20Commons%22%20news%20license.%20In%20fact,%20hNews%27%20%22rights%20field%22%20uses%20ccREL,%20the%20Creative%20Commons%20Rights%20Expression%20Language.%20%20The%20AP%27s%20news%20registry%20will%20use%20hNews%20to%20embed%20some%20kind%20of%20Web%20beacon%20in%20news%20content%20as%20well,%20making%20it%20possible%20to%20track%20some%20uses%20of%20the%20story%20across%20the%20Web.%20Users%20who%20simply%20copy%20and%20paste%20parts%20of%20the%20story,%20or%20those%20who%20retype%20bits%20of%20it%20to%20use%20as%20quotes,%20or%20those%20of%20simply%20strip%20out%20the%20tags%20will%20of%20course%20not%20end%20up%20being%20tracked.%20%20You%27ll%20be%20forgiven%20if%20you%20find%20it%20difficult%20to%20square%20the%20reality%20of%20hNews%20with%20the%20AP%27s%20pronouncements%20about%20it.%20Ed%20Felten,%20the%20eminent%20Princeton%20computer%20security%20researcher,%20couldn%27t%20figure%20it%20out,%20either.%20%20%22It%20was%20hard%20to%20make%20sense%20of%20this,%20so%20I%20went%20looking%20for%20more%20information,%22%20he%20wrote%20on%20his%20blog.%20%22AP%20posted%20a%20diagram%20of%20the%20system,%20which%20only%20adds%20to%20the%20confusion%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%94your%20satisfaction%20with%20the%20diagram%20will%20be%20inversely%20proportional%20to%20your%20knowledge%20of%20the%20technology...%20hNews%20is%20a%20handy%20way%20of%20annotating%20news%20stories%20with%20information%20about%20the%20author,%20dateline,%20and%20so%20on.%20But%20it%20doesn%27t%20%27encapsulate%27%20anything%20in%20a%20%27wrapper,%27%20nor%20does%20it%20do%20much%20of%20anything%20to%20facilitate%20metering,%20monitoring,%20or%20paywalls.%22%20%20The%20great%20difficulty%20in%20talking%20about%20the%20AP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Content not posted in case the DRM Police show up and break vM's legs.

What the hell did you do to that link son?
Title: Re: Bad News for Tim - AP jumps on DRM
Post by: Darth Wagtaros on July 28, 2009, 06:40:13 PM
Fixed.  Now read it.
Title: Re: Bad News for Tim - AP jumps on DRM
Post by: jimmy olsen on July 28, 2009, 06:50:36 PM
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on July 28, 2009, 06:40:13 PM
Fixed.  Now read it.
Doesn't seem to work, and I don't seem to be in the demographic that they're targeting either.
Title: Re: Bad News for Tim - AP jumps on DRM
Post by: Neil on July 28, 2009, 09:14:27 PM
Pathetic.
Title: Re: Bad News for Tim - AP jumps on DRM
Post by: DontSayBanana on July 28, 2009, 09:18:30 PM
Either AP's contracting a modified version of the platform or they're about to get served, big-time.