An interesting development I heard about last week is the Content Recognition Rules (CRR) specification, an XML schema that allows content owners to express, in a standard manner, how they would like their content to be treated. Some examples from the document:

1. On recognition of at least 60 seconds (for example) of this asset, please remove it from use.
2. This asset is playable only in the US.
3. This asset is not playable in the UK until July 4, 2008.
4. In a mashup of multiple assets from the same series, if the total time of all assets from the series totals 3 minutes, then remove it from use.
5. On appearance of this asset on a UGC site, send an email notification to the rights holder.
6. When delivering an uploaded copy of this asset to a consumer, some ads are associated with it and should be shown.
7. If an uploaded video contains over 60 seconds from this movie, and that represents over 50% of the video‘s total length, quarantine it, pending investigation.
8. If an uploaded video contains more than 33% of an original asset, take it down and notify the originator of the copy and the owner of the original.
9. If an uploaded video contains an AACS theatrical use only watermark, send a DMCA notice.
10. If the quality of an uploaded video is low enough, take no action.
11. If the last 3 minutes of this show are found in uploaded content, replace the UGC with a teaser clip.

I understand CRR is not intended to express copyrights or policy, but to permit a much wider range, and granularity, of possibilities than simply "infringing" (can't use) or "non-infringing" (can use). In fact, I see here a parallel with the enabling framework of the Creative Commons that also provides for a spectrum of granularity beyond "all rights reserved" and "no rights reserved" under copyright.

Enacted in 1998 to update U.S. copyright law to recognize the digital context, few had an intimation how central the Digital Millennium Copyright Act would become to the national debate on copyright; for only a year later, (the original) Napster was unleashed on the world...

At the Tech Policy Summit held May, Fred von Lohman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation expressed the sentiment that the DMCA got it about right (even realizing, as we’ve seen, that there many who believe it went too far or not far enough) in terms of the balance of responsibilities between rightsholders and online service providers: that fundamentally there is sufficient “looseness” in the framework to permit innovation to flourish. (Would TiVo exist, if, before offering its service, it had had to go to each rightsholder to ask permission to carry content?) We see the innovation everywhere: Google, YouTube, eBay, the Slingbox … We will need to continue the national discussion to keep seeking an appropriate balance. In the mean time, it’s been an interesting ten years. Happy birthday, DMCA!

Worth reading: “Who Will Own Your Next Good Idea?” Atlantic Monthly, September 1998. Published mere months before the DMCA was enacted, it brilliantly covers the underlying issues about copyright; and is, in many ways, prescient.

(Of course, the DMCA covers a lot more than just how rightsholders and ISPs interact... there’s the anti-circumvention issue, for example, that though rather quiescent in recent times - or perhaps has now mostly just become a fact of life - was hugely controversial at the time.)

Tags: DMCA

... of the EDUCAUSE Western Regional Conference site. I'm moderating the closing plenary, Don't Download This Panel and it's going to be a blast! The panel lineup is terrific, if I do say so myself: Greg DePriest from NBC/Universal, Kenneth C. Green of the Campus Computing Project and Fred von Lohman from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Come one, come all: early bird registration until March 3.

Thanks to Michael Berman, 2008 WRC Program Chair (Senior Vice President and CIO at the Art Center College of Design in his day job), for the impetus and all the support to make this happen.

The fine print: In case you didn't notice, this item is a shameless plug.

Tags: EDUCAUSE, DMCA