Hi,
On Oct 16, 2006, at 8:20 AM, Andy Armstrong wrote:
On 16 Oct 2006, at 13:08, Cameron Shorter wrote:
For those looking for more documentation, see the GeoDRM thread in
the the OWS4 RFQ:
http://www.opengeospatial.org/projects/initiatives/ows-4/#rfq
http://www.opengeospatial.org/projects/groups/geodrmwg
"The lack of a Geospatial Digital Rights Management (GeoDRM)
capability is a major barrier to broader adoption of Web based
geospatial technologies."
etc etc.
I can't find anything that makes it sound any less bone-headed than
any other kind of DRM. Like most DRM it seems to promise to trade
convenience for legitimate users for what is - at best - a minor
speed bump in the path of would-be pirates.
If you can point us to the bit where it takes a less moronic turn
that'd be helpful.
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.
Only one part of rights management for digital geospatial content and
services has anything to do with enforcement (e.g. authorization).
Communication, attribution, acknowledgement, provenance, quality, and
appropriate use are the focus of many use cases which do not involve
any of the enforcement schemes which seem to rile certain people so
much.
Yes, geospatial data have value quite apart from the particular
software used to work with or present it. No, those who create or
maintain it do not have an obligation to give it for free and with no
conditions to someone who will use it to build a house which is then
flooded and results in a lawsuit against the data provider.
Yes, most enforcement schemes can be defeated. The question is, are
those defeating those systems doing so to support their legitimate
usage rights or to steal someone else's legitimate IP rights. Do they
know? Do they care or is it just whatever they can get their hands on?
It is actually more important in both a legal and business sense that
such people (and those downstream from them) know when they are
infringing on someone else's legitimate rights than that some
protection system be 100% effective. This is distinct from particular
privacy concerns, of course, such as Title 13.
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.
Cheers,
Josh
--
Andy Armstrong, hexten.net
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