[IP] UK Report on "Digital Rights Management"
Begin forwarded message:
From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: June 9, 2006 7:07:57 PM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: UK Report on "Digital Rights Management"
Hi Dave:
The UK's Houses of Parliament's All Party Parliamentary Internet
Group has just issued a report "Digital Rights Management", which
can be found at:
http://www.apig.org.uk/current-activities/apig-inquiry-into-digital-
rights-management/DRMreport.pdf
From its Summary of Recommendations:
#65 We recommend that the Government consider granting a much wider-
ranging exemption to the anti-circumvention measures in the
CDPA for genuine academic research.
#86 We recommend that when the advice from the Legal Deposit
Advisory Panel has been received, the Department for Culture, Media
and Sport hold a formal public consultation, not only on the
technical details, but also on the general principles that have
been established.
#92 We recommend that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
review the level of funding for pilot projects that address access
to eBooks by those with visual disabilities; and that action is
taken if they are failing to achieve positive results.
#105 We recommend that the Office of Fair Trading (OFT)
bring forward appropriate labelling regulations so that it
will become crystal clear to consumers what they will and will
not be able to do with digital content that they purchase.
#113 We recommend that the OFT labelling regulations we proposed,
in #105 above, should ensure that the risks are clearly spelled
out, at the point of purchase, whenever consumers could lose
access to digital content if systems are discontinued, or
devices fail, or players are replaced by systems from a different
manufacturer.
#118 We recommend that OFCOM publish guidance to make it clear that
companies distributing TPM systems in the UK would, if they have
features such as those in Sony-BMG's MediaMax and XCP systems,
run a significant risk of being prosecuted for criminal actions.
#132 We recommend that the Department of Trade and Industry
investigate the single-market issues that have been raised with us,
with a view to addressing the issue at the European level. We
accept the argument that other industries may soon find their
markets distorted by DRM systems and so we recommend rapid
development of the principles by which the single market
can continue to operate effectively.
#135 We recommend that the government do NOT legislate to make DRM
systems mandatory.
#147 We recommend that the Department of Trade and Industry revisit
the results of their review into their moribund "IP Advisory
Committee" and reconstitute it as several more focused forums.
One of these should be a "UK Stakeholders Group" to be
chaired by the British Library. It should specifically address the
complex issues surrounding DRM, not just from the point of view of
experts on the technology, but with a wide-ranging membership
that includes representatives of consumers, libraries and the
creators of content - as well as the 'usual suspects' from the
rights holders and content distribution industries.
Some other snippets:
#65 We recommend that the Government consider granting a much wider-
ranging exemption to the anti-circumvention measures in the
CDPA for genuine academic research.
#86 We recommend that when the advice from the Legal Deposit
Advisory Panel has been received, the Department for Culture, Media
and Sport hold a formal public consultation, not only on the
technical details, but also on the general principles that have
been established.
#92 We recommend that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
review the level of funding for pilot projects that address access
to eBooks by those with visual disabilities; and that action is
taken if they are failing to achieve positive results.
#105 We recommend that the Office of Fair Trading (OFT)
bring forward appropriate labelling regulations so that it
will become crystal clear to consumers what they will and will
not be able to do with digital content that they purchase.
#113 We recommend that the OFT labelling regulations we proposed,
in #105 above, should ensure that the risks are clearly spelled
out, at the point of purchase, whenever consumers could lose
access to digital content if systems are discontinued, or
devices fail, or players are replaced by systems from a different
manufacturer.
#118 We recommend that OFCOM publish guidance to make it clear that
companies distributing TPM systems in the UK would, if they have
features such as those in Sony-BMG's MediaMax and XCP systems,
run a significant risk of being prosecuted for criminal actions.
#132 We recommend that the Department of Trade and Industry
investigate the single-market issues that have been raised with us,
with a view to addressing the issue at the European level. We
accept the argument that other industries may soon find their
markets distorted by DRM systems and so we recommend rapid
development of the principles by which the single market
can continue to operate effectively.
#135 We recommend that the government do NOT legislate to make DRM
systems mandatory.
#147 We recommend that the Department of Trade and Industry revisit
the results of their review into their moribund "IP Advisory
Committee" and reconstitute it as several more focused forums.
One of these should be a "UK Stakeholders Group" to be
chaired by the British Library. It should specifically address the
complex issues surrounding DRM, not just from the point of view of
experts on the technology, but with a wide-ranging membership
that includes representatives of consumers, libraries and the
creators of content - as well as the 'usual suspects' from the
rights holders and content distribution industries.
--
School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon
Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell@xxxxxxxxx PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/
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