FW: DRM-two approaches?

["Hamaker, Chuck" <cahamake@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I know I'm a complete neophyte in this area, but I wonder if some of you on
this list can confirm what I think seems to be true.

There are two major approaches to DRM I think.

One is the individual physical item level, i.e. copyprotection on a
cd.-which seems to be failing ludicrously and spectacularly and is busy
alienating buyers and users.
  The other is networked based, and for the most ambitious schemes, whole
web based control of digital rights objects management. 

One publisher I have spent over a year arguing about what content they are
supposed to have made available on our license, but have yet to provide--its
there, they just haven't confirmed our right to it after a year and  a half
of discussion...they haven't turned "on "some pieces of content  to us ( it
is  27 journal titles out of 850).

 From some discussions and think pieces around,  I assume some groups or
organizatioins are planning, super agencies/systems to control to the user
level what can and can't be seen, printed, played, used etc. and to
guarantee quality of content/objects.


One of the principle necessities for a "web" based grand central station for
control it seems to me is legitimization  or registration  of the object
itself, its "trustworthiness"  AND ownership rights concerning digital
"objects" or creations , I.e. some type of who owns what and then the rights
associated with "it", and then of course the licensing or permission to use
that content. 

The, nobody can do anything with it unless I give them permission agency is
far beyond the I sell you a cd to play we are used to. 

 Who or what agencies are seeking to become the control points  for such
registration/verification and permissions--who would provide guarantee that
a specific web "object" for want of a better term, actually is owned (and
true, or trusted) and can be controlled by a specific owner or registrar and
a specific "user" can do something with it? (Just because I claim ownershp
of a particular use of a particular digital object, doesn't mean I really
do)-who verifies my right to control??


The two approaches are not incommensurate; one working with all networked
devices, the other with non-networked devices. -However when the
non-networked digial object-whatever that means, 'connects" to a web device,
the control agency I guess, takes over managment for the owner(s) of record?

I'm probably stating the obvious.


What I am realizing is that there probably are some organizations actively
working to become the agencies that are the web based controllers. (beyond
naming  systems)

What are the agencies or organizations involved in this sort of  locus of
control planning? (different loci for perhaps different types of "content"
i.e. the refigerator temperature control agency, the centralized who can use
that piece of music and when on the web agency, etc.)

A discussion document though created for a different purpose, that explains
one perspective, from the "e-science" view of why we need centralized
authentication and rights management services-or in their words "Techniques
to manage the traceabilty and integrity of information and trace provenance
all the way from initial data through information to knowledge structures"
is  
a discussion document on the e-science website of the UK.

  "Computer Challenges to emerge from e-Science"  provided by the National
e-Science Centre:(UK)
see: http://www.escience-grid.org.uk/docs/grid.htm and select the PDF file
at the bottom of the page:
http://umbriel.dcs.gla.ac.uk/NeSC/general/news/Vision.pdf

I suspect that the resources to make some such schemes work would require
enormous amounts of computing and network capability. Probably, like the
phone company; more infrastruture to control use than to deliver the
original service? 

Curious, and trying to understand the "big" picture--if there  is one.

Chuck Hamaker