DIGITAL MUSIC ELECTRONIC COMMERCE

Addressing the super distribution model

Carlos Serrão and Joaquim Marques

ISCTE/Adetti, Ed. ISCTE – Av. Das Forças Armadas – 1600-082 Lisboa – Portugal

IPCB, Av. Pedro Alvares Cabral Nº12 – 6000 Castelo Branco - Portugal

Keywords: Digital Music, DRM, Super-Distribution, P2P Business Models

Abstract: Music is from far one of the most important types of media that is being exchanged in today's open

networks. Users, pushed by a growing number of factors are exchanging more and more music files using

popular P2P sharing technologies, such as Kazaa, e-Mule or Gnutella. If from one side this fact is important

and positive, from the other side it is driving to a growth in the number of piracy situations, related to the

violation of the authors copyright. Super distribution is from far the most popular electronic business model

on the Internet and the World Wide Web. This is especially true when digital formatted content, such as

music, videos or even books are considered. What are the main reasons for these facts? - Because it works.

This paper proposes an approach to address such IPR issues trough the usage of an open DRM architecture.

1 SUPER-DISTRIBUTION

The tremendous potential of “super-distribution” on

the Internet has been demonstrated by the peer-to-

peer file sharing systems, such as Napster and

Gnutella. To date, this technique has mainly been

limited to illegal distribution of copyrighted material

by communities of Internet users, although it is now

also being used legitimately by media companies for

advertising and to promote products/services.

Whilst super-distribution has shown its tremendous

potential, this e-commerce model has yet to achieve

commercially sustainable revenues, mainly due to

the lack of any mechanisms for content protection

and payment for licensed material. Super-

distribution and peer-to-peer technologies have

therefore initially been used mainly for the illegal

distribution and copying of copyrighted material.

However, once a licensing scheme has been adopted

and interoperability issues have been addressed,

super-distribution is likely to be one of the key

techniques used to promote and sell digital media

(Bill, 2003).

2 OPENSDRM DESCRIPTION

OpenSDRM deploys a traditional DRM solution for

content rights protection (Siegert, Serrão, 2003) that

can be applied for publishing and trading of digital

multimedia content. Additionally, the security

architecture proposed started from the OPIMA

international specifications (IEC/ITA, 2000),

MPEG-4 IPMP Extensions (King, Kudumakis,

2001) (Lacy, Rump, Kudumakis, 1998) and the

emerging MPEG-21 IPMP architecture (Bormans,

Hill, 2002) as well as with some of the proposals for

JPEG2000 standard Part 8 – JPSEC – JPEG2000

security (Kudumakis, 2003). This DRM solution is

composed of several optional elements covering the

content distribution value chain, from content

production to content usage. It covers several major

aspects of the content distribution and trading:

content production, preparation and registration,

content, interactive content distribution, content

negotiation and acquisition, strong actors and user’s

authentication and conditional

visualization/playback (EC, 2002).

OpenSDRM is composed by a set of external and

internal components which interact with each other.

The components and actors that interact externally

with the OpenSDRM architecture (Serrão, Neves,

Barker, Balestri, Kudumakis, 2003) are: User, IPMP

Tools Provider, Content Provider, Payment

Infrastructure and Certification Authority.

The internal components of the OpenSDRM

platform and the corresponding interfaces are:

Media Application, Media Delivery Server,

375

Serrao C. and Marques J. (2004).

DIGITAL MUSIC ELECTRONIC COMMERCE – Addressing the super distribution model.

In Proceedings of the First International Conference on E-Business and Telecommunication Networks, pages 375-378

DOI: 10.5220/0001389803750378

 SciTePress

Commerce Server, Authentication Server, License

Server, IPMP Tools Server, Registration Server,

Content Preparation Server and the Payment

Gateway.

3 SUPER-DISTRIBUTION IN

OPENSDRM

In this section a description on how OpenSDRM

handles the super-distribution model is provided.

Basically, the super-distribution scenario is very

simple: a user obtains content and gives it away to

his friends, that after may give the same content to

its own friends and so on. However, for this section

we consider the following two scenarios:

1 The User buys content and gives to a Friend:

this scenario demonstrates the case in which the

User obtains a content file (music) and then shares it

with a friend;

2 The User buys content and gives to a Friend

together with its own access rights (license): this

second scenario, only makes sense in the sense that

the DRM is protecting the content. It covers the

hypothesis in which a User acquires the content and

afterwards gives it to a friend and at the same time

gives him also part of its own acquired rights.

The following sections will provide more detail

about these scenarios, and explain how the

OpenSDRM platform can handle them while, at the

same time protects IPR. Another important and

relevant aspect relates to the fact that the content and

the licenses are protected (Serrão, Neves, Trezentos,

2003) (Serrão, Neves, Kudumakis, Barker, Balestri,

2003).

3.1 Normal content acquisition

Acquiring content secure by the OpenSDRM is a

straightforward process already explained in other

publications (Serrão, Neves, Trezentos, 2003)

(Siegert, Serrão, 2003), however the process can be

described in the steps presented bellow:

Figure 1: Normal Scenario

The user (Ua) selects music to download on the

COS; COS validates Ua on the AUS; Ua negotiates

with the COS the appropriate content license

conditions for the music; COS requests to the LIS to

produce a license with the appropriate conditions

negotiated for the content and for the Ua; COS

signals the MDS to prepare the content to be sent to

the Ua; COS processes with the PGW the payment

for the Ua; Ua downloads the content; When Ua

tries to play the music, the player verifies that the

music is protected and contacts the LIS to download

the license for it; Ua downloads the license; The

player renders the music according to the license;

The license is stored securely on the player.

The user (Ua) is then able to listen to the music

according to the conditions established on the

license it has acquired on the COS. Currently the

license supports two types of expiration: play count

and time limit.

3.2 Passing content to a friend

Whenever the content is on the Ua side, it is

protected through strong encryption. Therefore, even

if the user gives the music to other users, they won’t

be able to listen to it. OpenSDRM focus is not on the

prevention of file sharing, but rather in preventing

that this share is completely uncontrolled.

Figure 2: Give content scenario

OpenSDRM supports the possibility that a user

can give content to its friends to normal means –

therefore enabling the super distribution model. The

files can even be shared through popular P2P

systems. The bottom question in this case is the fact

that the receiving user (Ub) cannot access to the

ICETE 2004 - WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS AND NETWORKS

376

music without the appropriate license. Therefore, Ub

needs to obtain a license from LIS in order to listen

to the content. The process can be depicted in the

following: Ua gives music to Ub; Ub gets the

content and tries to open it using the player; The

player detects that the Ub doesn’t have the

appropriate license to listen to the content; The user

(Ub) contacts the COS and searches for the specific

music track; COS validates Ub on the AUS; Ub

negotiates with the COS the appropriate content

license conditions for the music; COS requests to the

LIS to produce a license with the appropriate

conditions negotiated for the content and for the Ub;

Ub downloads the license; The player renders the

music according to the license; The license is stored

securely on the player.

This is a typical case of super distribution,

controlled by DRM. However, in some situations, it

is not very practical. If we consider that Ub, would

just like to listen to the music one or two times

immediately, he would first have to acquire a

specific license for that purpose, which may take

some more time, and money. A variance from the

solution presented in this section is presented next.

This is the case in which Ua transfers not only

content but also some of its own rights to Ub.

3.3 Passing content and rights to a

friend

In fact, a more attractive scenario involves not only

the transfer of content, but also the transfer of usage

rights. This is the case, for instance, in which a User

wants to give its content to a friend and at the same

time, pass its own rights (or part of them) as well.

Figure 3: Give content and rights scenario

The user usage rights are expressed in ODRL

format, using some relevant fields, such as

‘keyvalue’, ‘uid’, ‘count’ and ‘individual’. These

fields are use in the license to personalize it to a

specific content and user. Considering this license,

the owner might be willing to give part of its rights

(the ability to listen to the music ten times) to a

friend.

This procedure can be described in the following

steps: Ua gives content to Ub; Ua also wishes to

transfer some of its own rights to Ub; Ua signals LIS

that he is going to transfer rights to Ub; LIS asks to

Ua what rights does he wish to transfer; LIS updates

Ua license; LIS produces Ub license; Ub plays the

content in the player; Ub downloads license from

LIS; Player renders content.

4 CONCLUSIONS

One of the business models that have been under

consideration for many years (super distribution)

involves the insertion of DRM functionalities into

the P2P mechanisms, enabling consumers to

continue to share freely content files through file

sharing networks but only in a way that ensures that

the usage occurs on terms established by the rights

owner. However, due to the lack of the protection

functionality required to support such models don’t

have much success. The majority of DRM systems

can be distinguished by two essential features: (a)

the ability to deliver content usage rules

independently of the content; (b) the persistency on

content protection when acquired by a user granting

the access and use according to the permissions

granted to that user. In this way, content downloaded

for use on a particular device cannot be transferred

to a second device unless the permission obtained by

the user for that content expressly permits such a

transfer.

OpenSDRM is according to these, implementing

a set of security functionalities that enables a P2P

network to support the most three common content

distribution business models: a) Subscription model

and Pay-per-view; b) Aggregator model and c) the

Reseller model.

Although content has its own security when

transferred from device terminals OpenSDRM

implements also a licence management process,

centralized on clearinghouses that enables and

ensures compatibility when a user need more rights

than the ones transferred. This service would

provide publishers with information about player

devices and also support to alternative business

models such as pay-per-view or subscription based

pricing models based on secure licenses issued.

Players with Internet connectivity could also support

DIGITAL MUSIC ELECTRONIC COMMERCE – Addressing the super distribution model

377

online security verification and downloadable

security updates.

In conclusion, some of the OpenSDRM

functionalities that contribute to the success of super

distribution can be resumed in the following:

• It is easy to use and convenient in the sense

consumers can share (redistribute) his content;

• Provides enough value to convince a

significant number of users to choose it over free

exchanges because a network of clearinghouses

providing higher quality content and more efficient

distribution can negotiates personalized licenses;

• Can give to the user a new consumer

experience contributing in this way to the

enhancement of its acceptance by encouraging users

to exchange content;

• Can contribute to the acceptance of a new

standard;

• It is secure and flexible enough for both

traders and consumers;

• Enables portability and offline distribution.

REFERENCES

King J., Kudumakis P., 2001, MPEG-4 IPMP

Extensions, 8th ACM Conference on Computer

and Communications Security (CCS-8),

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Lacy J., Rump N., Kudumakis P., 1998, MPEG-4

Intellectual Property Management & Protection

(IPMP) - Overview & Applications Document,

ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11/N2614

Serrão C., Neves D., Trezentos P., 2003, Open

Source Security Analysis: Evaluating security of

Open Source Vs Closed Source Operating

Systems, ICEIS 2003, Angers, France

Serrão C., Neves D., Kudumakis P., Barker T.,

Balestri M., 2003, Open Sdrm – An Open And

Secure Digital Rights Management Solution,

IADIS, Lisboa

Siegert G., Serrão C., 2003, An Open-Source

Approach to Content Protection and Digital

Rights Management in Media Distribution

Systems, ICT Conference 2003, Copenhagen

IEC/ITA, 2000, Open Platform Initiative for

Multimedia Access (OPIMA) -

http://www.telecomitalialab.com/opima

Bormans J., Hill K., 2002, MPEG-21 Overview v.4,

ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11/N4801

Serrão C., Neves D., Barker T., Balestri M.,

Kudumakis P., 2003, Open Sdrm – An Open And

Secure Digital Rights Management Solution,

IADIS 2003, Lisboa,

http://zeus.iscte.pt/~cjcs/artigos_apresenta/74.pdf

Kudumakis P., 2003, MOSES: MPEG OPEN

SECURITY FOR EMBEDDED SYSTEMS,

http://www.crl.co.uk/projects/moses/Public/docs/

Panos%20Kudumakis%20FullPaper%20for%20

WIAMIS2003.pdf

EC, 2002, Digital Rights: Background, Systems,

Assessment, Commission Staff Working Draft,

Commision of the European Communities

ISO 2002, International Organisation For

Standardisation Organisation Internationale De

Normalisation Iso/Iec Jtc1/Sc29/Wg11 Coding

Of Moving Pictures And Audio , ISO/IEC

JTC1/SC29/WG11/N5231, Shanghai,

http://www.chiariglione.org/mpeg/standards/mpe

g-21/mpeg-21.htm

Bill R., 2003, Integrating DRM with Peer-to-Peer

Networks - Enabling the Future of Online

Content Business Models,

http://www.giantstepsmts.com/P2PDRMwhitepa

per.pdf

ICETE 2004 - WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS AND NETWORKS

378