[rights-requirements] the dilemma for some of us here

[Bob Glushko <glushko@SIMS.Berkeley.EDU>]

To fellow members of the RLTC
Requirements Subcommittee,
    We have spent several months thrashing out
requirements and clarifying (mostly by limiting) the scope of our
efforts. I now believe that we have a requirements document that
accurately describes what we are doing because we've revised some of the
overly ambitious claims about generality and the range of domains to
which the rights expression language can be confidently applied.  It
hasn't been a comfortable process for any of us, but as a result of the
collision of the different perspectives we brought to the TC everyone has
learned something and come to appreciate that there are more than one
side to the issues.  These excerpts from the most recent version (26
Nov 2002) of the requirements document is a much more careful and nuanced
statement of purpose than the one this TC started with a few months
ago:
   
As such, the technical work of the RLTC is not directed
to

·       Develop specific terms that will be used to write expressions that are pertinent to some domain such as

o       Specific usage permissions and conditions specifically for content and

o       Specific usage permissions and conditions specifically for other types of resources.

·       Develop a language or system that addresses legal rights and processes. Examples of these rights include, but are not limited to, those legal rights termed as “fair use rights” and contractual rights.

While the language that is standardized by this committee may be expressive enough to express policy associated with the subject areas listed above, it is important to note that ensuring this is outside the scope of this TC. The work product of this technical committee will be one component of a larger ecosystem, and other components and workflows will address those issues not addressed by this technical committee

.

But on the very same day that I read this latest requirements document, I
also read this very disturbing article entitled "Sony's Death
Grip" about Sony's latest plans to apply DRM (and presumably, given
the announcement this week of Sony's licensing agreement with Content
Guard, what they are licensing is something very similar to what we are
building in this TC).

http://www.fool.com/News/Foth/2002/foth021202.htm

The article says "Unfortunately, this sort of action on
Sony's part only hurts consumers -- those that legitimately buy their
products -- by making listening to music a hassle. Further, it violates
the doctrine of Fair Use -- the ability to use a product you have legally
purchased in any legal way you see fit. Sony has effectively made it
impossible for a user with a couple of computers and an MP3 player to
make copies of songs he has legitimately purchased."

So I'm faced, as I'm sure others in this subcommittee are, with a
dilemma. I know that we have made real progress toward creating a rights
language that is expressive enough to ensure that people can exercise
their fair use rights under copyright law, and I have been especially
impressed with the fact that this has been achieved because of close
cooperation between Microsoft and the Samuelson Clinic
folks.    We have acknowledged (in the excerpt above) that
while we can enable "the right thing" we have to rely on others
to actually do it.  So it is truly disappointing to see that they
won't.  I have to ask myself, what is the point of working so hard in
this committee to "get it right" if companies like Sony decide
not to take advantage of this expressiveness we are building into the
language to maintain a balance between the rights of copyright holders
and copyright users?  Instead, they are sneering at the fair use
principle and acting like they are above the law.  How can we
continue working in this TC when it looks like its work is being abused
this way?

bob glushko

--
Robert J. Glushko, Ph.D.
http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~glushko
School of Information Management & Systems
102 South Hall
University of California, Berkeley CA 94720-4600