[Geowanking] Re: GeoDRM

[Andy Armstrong]

On 16 Oct 2006, at 15:08, Josh at oklieb wrote:
> One of the (few) benefits of having used the term GeoDRM for the  
> present geo-rights work is that it does flush out people who are  
> mainly looking for a demon to hunt and use abusive language rather  
> than actually talking and thinking about how intellectual property  
> rights work for all Web users. It's a bit like saying that anyone  
> who uses the term soccer / football is just a hooligan talking  
> about head-butting.

Not really. All current DRM implementations involve mechanisms that  
impinge on legitimate users while offering little deterrent to  
determined thieves. If this is different perhaps it should have a  
different name.

[snip]

> The point of the present GeoDRM work, however some might want to  
> demonize it on the basis of the term, is first and foremost to  
> define a system of rights information (metadata and protocols)  
> which lets anyone who uses geospatial intellectual property,  
> communicate and be clear on the terms of that use. This seems to me  
> in the end a clearer and more effective way of documenting  
> unfairness in particular protection schemes and moving toward more  
> fair, less proprietary systems, than cracking them and ranting  
> about them, but that's just my preference.

So just to be clear does any part of GeoDRM concern itself with an  
encoding scheme that is comparable with say, FairPlay? Or is it all  
just metadata that describes ownership, usage restrictions &c?

Or to put it another way is there any part of GeoDRM that would be  
incompatible with the implementation of a free software decoder?

-- 
Andy Armstrong, hexten.net