Liaison with other standards groups

[David Parrott <David.Parrott@reuters.com>]

Following the teleconference on 21 May, I have submitted a summary of
XACML status to the W3C interest group on DRM <www-drm@w3.org> and the
MPEG-21 <mpeg-21@starlab.net> discussion lists.  I have also held
separate telephone conversations with Scott Edwards, chair of the Open
eBook Forum (OeBF) Rights and Rules Working Group (R&R WG), and Brad
Gandee, XrML Evangelist for ContentGuard, and am awaiting responses
from the Rigo Wenig (W3C Co-Chair of the W3C DRM Workshop held in
January) and Rob Koenen (Chair of the MPEG Requirements Group).  The
purpose of the above activities was to initiate dialogue between the
XACML TC and related standards organisations.  Short summaries of the
various standards groups are included below.  Note that the summaries
are the work of the author of this email who apologies for any
inaccuracies (corrections welcome).

On the subject of XrML, I raised two important issues with Brad
Gandee:

1/ The IPR held by ContentGuard with respect to the use of XrML (and
rights expression languages generally)

2/ The use of XrML as a (partial) basis for the work of XACML.

Brad is keen to progress the conversation and (like me) is concerned
at the proliferation of potentially competing standards efforts.
ContentGuard is keen to promote the re-use of its work on XrML where
possible and is in the process of setting up an independent forum to
take ownership of the XrML and its future developments.  Hopefully,
this will address the fears pertaining to IPR.  I have suggested to
Brad that he takes membership of OASIS in order to participate in
XACML discussions where appropriate.

On the subject of liaison with the Open eBook Forum, Scott Edwards has
raised the possibility of XACML representatives attending the
forthcoming general meeting of OeBF to be held in San Francisco on
18-21 June 2001.  A one hour session was suggested (1/2 hour
presentation on activities, followed by a 1/2 hour discussion, with
overflow time possible).  The presentation would be to members of
OeBF's Rights and Rules Working Group and in the presence of the
OeBF's Strategic Relations Committee.  The most likely date is 21 June
with second favourite 20 June.  A similar invitation is being extended
to MPEG-21, so the session may be very useful for getting several
standards groups in the same room at the same time.  I plan to be in
attendance on both days.

I would welcome feedback on the above and suggestions for next steps.
I will report further progress and I receive responses from the
various contacts.

/Dave.
_ ______________________________________________________________
Dr David J. Parrott, Chartered Engineer. Chief Technology Office
     Reuters Limited, 85 Fleet Street, London EC4P 4AJ, UK.
   Direct Line: +44 (0)20 7542 9830, Fax: +44 (0)20 7542 8314
       Email: David.Parrott@reuters.com, dparrott@acm.org


Summaries follow:


The W3C DRM Interest Group

The W3C's interest group on DRM met for the first (and only) time in
January 2001 (see http://www.w3.org/2000/12/drm-ws/).  The meeting was
initiated by IPRSystems (http://www.iprsystems.com), also responsible
for the Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL, see http://odrl.net) with
the aim of prompting the W3C to act towards creating a global DRM
markup standard (a full workshop report is available at
http://www.w3.org/2000/12/drm-ws/workshop-report.html).  The overall
feeling of the workshop was that W3C is in a strong position to act as
a coordinator in the creation of a "Rights Management Framework", in
cooperation with other standards bodies.  At this time, no decision
has been taken by the W3C as to whether (and if so how) this might
happen.  (Reuters presented a position paper at the workshop.)


Open eBook Forum (Rights and Rules Working Group)

The OeBF (http://www.openebook.org/) was formed in January 2000 with
the remit to create and maintain standards and promote the successful
adoption of electronic books.  The OeBF followed on from the earlier
Open eBook Initiative, formed in late 1998.  Essentially, the OeBF is
looking standardising the data formats and metadata associated with
the publication of books and periodicals.  From that initial goal,
however, it is likely that the group will extend its horizon to
encompass more general electronic publishing.  The OeBF Rights and
Rules Working Group (R&R W/G) was formally created this month
(following initial work laid down by an interest group of the same
name).  The R&R W/G has set out to create an XML-based markup language
describing rights of access and obligations pertaining to electronic
publications.  The group is in communication with W3C and MPEG-21.
(Reuters is a member of the OeBF R&R W/G.)

EBX Working Group formally combined its operations with the OeBF
during a brief ceremony at the General Meeting of members held this
year in Paris, France, on March 19, 2001.


MPEG-21

The MPEG-21 Multimedia Framework extends the remit of the Motion
Picture Experts Group (an ISO organisation) to include "any multimedia
data").  The MPEG-21 introduction document (see
http://www.cselt.it/mpeg/standards/mpeg-21/mpeg-21.htm) lists the
seven key elements of MPEG-21 as:

1/ Digital Item Declaration
2/ Digital Item Identification and Description
3/ Content Handling and Usage
4/ Intellectual Property Management and Protection
5/ Terminals and Networks
6/ Content Representation
7/ Event Reporting

Of the above, numbers 1, 2, and 4 are probably the most relevant to
the XACML work.



-----------------------------------------------------------------
        Visit our Internet site at http://www.reuters.com

Any views expressed in this message are those of  the  individual
sender,  except  where  the sender specifically states them to be
the views of Reuters Ltd.