This is a new proposal for the Table of Contents of the Digital Media Manifesto (DMM), whose publication is planned for 2003/09/30 and whose drafting should happen according to a proposed timeline.

• Bold text represents major subdivisions of the DMM.
• Underlined text represents major subheadings.
• Italic text represents hints at and comments to what should appear as text.

Executive summary (Five lines)

Introduction (1 page)

One page providing

1. General summary of the Manifesto
2. Navigational information on the Manifesto

Overcoming the DM dilemma (3 pages)

A proposal for this section has been made .

Major actions (20 pages?)

1. Mapping of rights traditionally enjoyed by users to the DM space

• Legislation concerning the rights acquired by end users with content is the result of decades and is far from being uniform across the countries.
• Part of this body of legislation concerns basic user rights, such as the ability to quote somebody. This is reasonably implementable with analogue media but if digital media are protected, this basic right can no longer ne enjoyed
• Another part is the result of legislative actions triggered by the need to cope with some new feature that was enabled by a new media technology and that was considered too damaging to rights holders.
• DM technologies allow a vast number of new possibilities, some of which had an equivalent in the analogue world, but it is not straightforward to see how basic user rights of the analogue world can be mapped to the digital media space
• One of the obstacles to adoption of DRM solutions is that a service provider decide to remove what users have come to consider as their basic rights, whether mandated by law or not, often so because a blanket support of those rights would deprive the DRM solution of its raison d'être.
• An example is the right of end users to make a backup copy of media they buy. This is a sensible thing to allow because a user buying a VHS cassette may lose the original or see it become useless and he should be able to watch the cassette should one of the two things happen. In the digital case this is not necessarily a requirement because a user may decide to acquire a license and get the digital content via the network every time he wants
• A second example is the right that users traditionally have to buy the playback device from the manufacture they choose or even build the device themselves. This was OK as long as content was unprotected. But with protected content this is no longer possible, because the playback device must satisfy certain minimum criteria, if it is not going to become a hole through which valuable content flows away.
• A third example is the right to privacy. Today for the majority of content user can preserve anonymity and shield their private choices from the people they buy content from. With the combination of network and DRM it becomes very easy for service providers to track user behaviour accurately. Users demand that there should be the possibility to opt out from this scrutiny
• The approach suggested is to convert rights traditionally enjoyed by end users into technical requirements to be used in designing the DRM platform and particularly the end user device. Of course only those rights that do not infringe the basic rights holders' right to exploit their content economically will be supported. The DRM platform and end user devices should be specified in such a way that those user rights are technically supported. It will be the task of individual legislation which technical features ti mandate.

References

2. Phasing out of legacies

• The levy on recording devices and blank recording media
• Content licensing and regional distribution issues
• References

3. Deployment of broadband access

• Today there is already a wide variety of means to deliver digital "broadband" to the general end user
  1. About 1 Mbit/s downstream broadband via the fixed telephone network and 100-200 kbit/s upstream (ADSL)
  2. Comparable broadband via CATV using cable modem, but symmetrical (upstream-downstream)
  3. Several Gbit/s downstream via CATV
  4. Several Gbit/s downstream via satellite with reduced or no upstream channel
  5. Several Mbit/s downstream using DVD (1.5 Mbit/s using CD)
  6. In some countries now, and possibly others in the future, a few hundred Mbit/s in the UHF band with reduced or no upstream channel (DTT)
  7. In topographically reduced areas, 11 Mbit/s using WiFi
  8. In the DMM context, mostly as a cheap means to provide return channel, a few tens of Mbit/s using GPRS and 3G mobile networks
• There is a wide range of differences in regulation for each of these delivery systems. This has also an impact on the degree of development for each of these
• Different business players have exploited this range of opportunities
  • ADSL, Cable modem and WiFi are mostly used in a content agnostic fashion
  • CATV, satellite and DTT are used in a content-specific fashion
• There are two areas where practical solutions available to high percentage of population are difficult to obtain today
  • Unrestricted access to an unlimited number of broadband DM sources
  • Seamless broadband access on the move
• There is a need to remove the obstacles impeding the creation of a virtuous circle
• References

4. Improving development of and access to standards

• DM is the more advanced form of communication between humans ever invented
• All forms of communication require some sort of standardisation, by whatever means this is achieved (law, formal standards, marketplace)
• DM is also a field where innovation rate has been high and is expected to remain so for the foreseeable future
• Formal standardisation is a desirable means to provide enabling standards on top of which different business players can develop their offers
• The process employed by formal standardisation today is by and large the same process conceived for hardware (manufacturing) oriented standards
• The standard relates to a functionality that is embedded in a specific communication system
• This functionality usually requires access to IPR of a third party
• The standard body requires that such IPR that is required to implement a standard be made available to users of the standard at fair, reasonable and non discriminatory terms, such terms being worked out outside of the standard body
• The terms are usually a per-unit (player, recording media) charge
• The process worked satisfactorily in the previous phase of industry, e.g. TV receivers, VCRs, CD players etc.
• This MPEG-2 standard innovated this process in two respects: the relevant IPR is owned by many parties and the functionality is used in a range of radically different products
• The success of the MPEG-2 standard is partly due to the traditional way in which the standard is used (e.g. IPR for an MPEG-2 decoder used in a software DVD player is licensed as if it were a hardware player)
• In the current phase of the DM industry more changes are taking place. DM are increasingly used in ways that hardly fit in the traditional model and clash with other models of product deployment that have been traditionally used in the IT field.
• The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the corporate entities holding the relevant IPR belong to different industries with different business models in mind. 
• Under these circumstances the existence of a standard does not necessarily mean that a business player can implement his business model. Actually the standard may become an element of discrimination
• This can already be seen in the way certain users intend to employ video and audio compression standards, that can be considered as "traditional" communication elements.
• It is expected that further complexities will arise from other standards like
  • metadata, especially when they are used in combination with other multimedia standards.
  •  DRM, because of the critical nature of some of these technologies.
• There is a need to review the complete standardisation workflow from the moment the need of a standard is identified to the moment a license is published.
• Two comments:
  • The way the standard will be used in actual products and services should be considered earlier in the process than at the time licensing is defined
  • There is complex process by which holders of IPR to implement a standard are identified and a patent pool set up is now established. This is based on legal aspects that it would be difficult to change, assuming it were desirable.
• References

Technical actions

• The technologies used to make DM are not simply new ìmproved technologies to do the same job as before to CMSC media. They have the potential to alter the way business is conducted along the value chain. Examples
  • Distribution can be done over the web
  • Retail shops can be replaced by a web site
  • ...
• DRM is the critical technology enabling business models for DM that are far less speculative than those that can be imagined without DRM
• As the value chain is made up of a number of independent business players, it is natural that each player wishes to retain the freedom of choosing the DRM solution that best fits his needs.
• The expected result is that there will be multiple solutions on the different instances of the value chain
• However, DRM is not a technology that can be introduced arbitrarily at any point of the value chain, because its introduction at one point influences the rest of the value chain in a substantial way
• It is conceivable to have multiple DRMs handled by different value chain players, however, coexistence of different DRMs with a level of trust adequate for normal business relations is a major challenge that in some cases (e.g. conversion between different Right Expression Languages) may still require advances at the scientific level
• The "freedom of choice" of DRM solutions will have the consequence that DRM cannot become the tool enabling meaningful businesses solutions for an unpredictable length of time
• The only feasible solution in the short-to-medium term is a deployment of DRM that are based on technologies designed to interoperate, which does not mean that there must be same technologies everywhere (e.g. MPEG IPMP-X lets end user devices download the tools that are required by a specific content protection system)
• The interoperable DRM platforms advocated by the DMM should be specified in a such a way that the needs of different value chain players are satisfied and that access to needed DRM features are technically enabled
• Elements of the value chain are (preliminary list, to be validated)
  1. Content Creators- Self explanatory.
  2. Content Distributors - Self explanatory.
  3. Rights Management enablers (for a lack of better term) - includes DRM manufacturers, Rights societies.
  4. Aggregators - Music Subscription Services, multi-channel TV companies
  5. Back-office applications - Web hosting, e-business solutions, billing, security.
  6. Network Services - Network for key digital media services - ISP, online service, data broadcasting, ADSL, Telcos infrastructure.
  7. Portals - Gateway to key DM services - Search Engines, online services.
  8. Equipment Software manufacturer - Browser, plug-in software, OS and Middleware.
  9. Device/User Hardware manufacturer - PC, TV, set-top box, PDA, video game manufacturers.
• A number of standard initiatives already exist that are developing basic technologies that can become the foundation of interoperable DRM platforms, e.g.
  • MPEG (Digital Item Declaration, Digital Item identification, Rights Expression Language, Right Data Dictionary, Digital Item Adaptation, etc.)
  • Content Reference Forum (Contracts Expression Language, etc.)
  • TV Anytime Forum (...)
  • ...
•  Probably no further action is required at the technology level
•  Action is required to develop appropriate interfaces enabling access to the different value chain players
• The specification of industry-specific interfaces should be left to appropriate industry groups
• References

• The end-user device is technically a part of the platform but it is convenient to treat it separately because several other issues are included
• Traditionally the end user device was media specific and delivery specific, i.e. a different device is needed to view TV from OTA broadcast and from a recording device (VHS), even if it is the same TV signal that the device has to deal with
• On the other hand device was not content or service provider specific
  • Even when there were two video cassette recording standards (VHS and Beta) content was available on both formats
  • Exceptions were pay analogue TV decoders and CATV STBs (which were very simple technically)
• In the digital domain
  • The first example of DM - CD - followed the same paradigm
  • the same happened with DVD
  • the failed DCC was deployed following the same route
• DVD is an example of an end-user device for a platform for distribution of digital video content in protected form on package media. The same end-user device can play any content (the device plays content according to certain rules - region code)
• But there have been other significant departures
  •  SPs of satellite pay TV services rent special STBs capable of decrypting content to their subscribers
  • The CATV industry simply continues their practice of giving special (digital, this time) STBs to their subscribers
  • New services like PVR also require special devices to enjoy the service
• The difference with digital STB is that the cost is one order of magnitude more than their analogue equivalent. This means that making business with DM is much more costly but it is easier to make one's subscribers more impervious to competing offers
• But this model has still to prove that it is economically viable. Indeed only SPs operating in monopolistic conditions are in the black. In other countries like Italy two competing SPs who have been in the red for years have merged thus creating a monopolistic offer
• There have been several attempts to steer away from this model, one of them being the DVB Common Interface (CI)
• A major problem with a digital end user device, in addition to the much higher cost compared to its analogue equivalent, is the much faster device obsolescence rate.
• It becomes very hard for a major SP to plan centrally for updates of end user devices. Just imagine if the device were the PC where obsolescence rate is very high, still users have different requirements for replacement. And DM consumption devices are becoming more and more like PCs in their functionalities (of course they do not look like PCs)
• A competitive market of classes of end user devices from different manufacturers, capable of consuming protected content, that end users can buy in the shop 
• This model is the only one that can provide sustainable businesses
  • So far the only case in which digital terrestrial broadcasting seems to work is in the one under way in the UK where STBs are purchased by end users in the shops
  • DM services on the telco infrastructure are economically sustainable only if the costs of the STB are removed from the costs of the service provider
  • Removing the costs of STBs from the costs of satellite pay TV may make that service sustainable in competitive environments
• Although not impacting interoperability, human interface is major element deciding success of DM
• Interoperable end-user devices will allow device design to address human interface with radically greater efficiency. DM can arrive from many sources. Storage "media" can become nothing more than a screen on the user's display, letting them know networked storage is available -- a type of storage now called "media-less" by some. The deciding design factor for interoperable user-devices will be the human experience it is designed for. This will succeed and increase demand. We are probably unable to imagine the different types of device that will be invented and become conventional in future times.
• References

• The means to assess that players operate according to the agreed rules
• Conformance assessed at legal, business and technical levels
• Automatic assessment of conformance to local law/regulation
• Emphasis on the last (technical)

The Digital Media Project

Work plan and deliverables

Charter