Express your Rights
With encryption and licenses laying the foundation, a clearinghouse of some type is needed to implement the electronic distribution of digital assets.
The term clearinghouse has a couple of different meanings in regard to DRM. It can refer to a central server that manages the issuance, validation and renewal of licenses for digital assets, including the decryption key and the rights associated with that key. This is a DRM clearinghouse or "license server." Clearinghouse can also refer to a billing center used to collect money, or other collateral, in exchange for a DRM license. This is an e-commerce clearinghouse.
Nearly all complete DRM solutions have a DRM clearinghouse or equivalent functionality. This is part of what separates DRM from the "all or nothing" proposition of plain old data security.
While there is definite synergy between e-commerce clearinghouse functions and DRM clearinghouse functions, from a technical perspective there’s nothing about rights-managed digital asset purchases that mandates the use of vertical or high-end e-commerce platforms. From a rights holder’s or distributor’s perspective, however, having a single company integrate DRM and e-commerce clearinghouse functions can be more convenient and less complicated than having in-house staff integrate the two. But it’s a strategic decision to be made on a case-by-case basis by companies implementing digital asset sales.
An emerging function of DRM clearinghouses with potentially significant ramifications is customer tracking. For example, how many times did the customer render the asset, transfer it, and so on, and in which device or devices? DRM technology vendors that don’t offer this yet are promising it for the future. Content owners thinking about implementing the functionality will need to weigh the trade-off with customer privacy, however; content owners aren’t the only ones with rights.
Armed and Dangerous
Microsoft often takes heat for its successes as well as its failures, and is sometimes accused of muscling its way into markets by leveraging the ubiquity of its operating systems or other software. But when it comes to DRM, Microsoft clearly offers some of the best technology available. Microsoft is ahead of the competition with two amazing DRM product features: it is here, and it works.
"Reciprocal has done more transactions with Microsoft’s technology than with others," says Howie Singer, senior vice president of business development for Reciprocal, whose customers can choose from a palette of technologies. David Vap, director of product marketing at Artesia, a digital asset management company, describes Microsoft’s prowess more succinctly. "If I had to place a bet today on who’s going to win the whole enforcement realm, it would be on Microsoft," he says.
Perhaps the greatest weakness of Microsoft’s otherwise bulletproof strategy is that Windows Media Technology cannot be ported to non-Windows platforms without a blessing from Microsoft, and such licenses do not appear to be forthcoming. Microsoft’s Aldridge is honest and unapologetic when talking about Windows Media’s Windows-centric nature. "We’re in the business of selling Windows and we see digital media as a core part of the value proposition," he says.
RealNetworks’ entry into the DRM realm is RealServer iQ, which lets content owners send encrypted streams in conjunction with user authentication for pay-per-view and e-commerce applications. This is useful for live events, such as the Grammy Awards simulcast, but falls short in applications for downloadable content — particularly music downloads. Given Real’s recent MusicNet deal, however, it seems certain that a comprehensive DRM solution is brewing in its labs. (At press time, Real declined to comment on the record).
Apple’s QuickTime currently offers authentication, but the company does not support encryption as part of the QuickTime Streaming Server API, nor does it offer encryption/ decryption for stand-alone QuickTime files. The company has no announced plans to deliver a more comprehensive DRM solution. Also, the smaller base of QuickTime users (compared to Real and Microsoft) makes the platform less appealing to content owners looking to distribute rights-managed content. However, QuickTime is leaning toward interoperable MPEG-4 support, which could open a lot of DRM doors down the road via Intellectual Property Management and Protection.
Real and Apple do have one thing in common that gives them some flexibility Microsoft doesn’t have: They’re not in the business of selling Windows, and they can support any platform they choose. And Apple’s agnosticism goes a step further with the impending rise of interoperable MPEG-4 specifications.