Presentation Notes for the 8th Linux Party by the Ecole Mohammadia d' Ingenieurs, Rabat, Morocco.
Martin Springer <martin@flatline.de>
Slide 1 - Startpage
Good morning ladies and gentlemen. First of all I would like to thank Mr Amin Echerradi, the president of the edition committee, for the opportunity to visit Maroc for the first time in my life.
This year's Linux Party is about free software and quality standards and how they could benefit a company. The formulation in French would be something along "Standards de qualité et Logiciels Libres : Enjeux et perspectives pour l'entreprise".
I have always worked for small companies developing software for digital media devices and services. A lot of the software we produced was released under a Free Software license. I can't give a quick answer to the question how Free Software can benefit a company, but later I will present some ideas.
However, first I would like to talk about the relationship of Media, Standards and Free Software. I think that this is relevant for the conference topic, because the media industry and their business models have a substantial influence on the software development for Consumer Electronics Devices.
Slide 2 - Media
What are Media?
I know that they can connect people by enabling exchange of information over a distance
Media allow me to access the knowledge of other people
Media help me to understand the feelings and experiences of other people
Media make me independent of teachers (stored information)
Therefore I read books, write letters, listen to music or create art
Why do People create Media?
there are many reasons why people write books.
Philosophers write books to understand the relationships of things. Because their ideas about nature are too complex they have to write them down.
another reason for writing down your ideas is to preserve your knowledge for future generations
people can share knowledge and experiences by creating and exchanging Media
Around the year 1000 the Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity was published in Basra, Iraq.
It had a great influence on later intellectual leading lights of the Muslim world
One quote:
"Turn from the sleep of negligence and the slumber of ignorance, for the world is a house of delusion and tribulations".
Slide 3 - Enlightenment
in the 18th century (Siecle des Lumieres) French authors published an Encyclopedia, because they found that it is possible to categorize human knowledge.
at that time media distribution was controlled by the owners of the printing press.
the Encyclopedia questioned the knowledge monopolies of institutions like the Catholic Church
a system of censorship prohibited the printing of the Encylopedia in France.
however, the publishers managed to print the books outside of France (e.g. Berlin)
using the printing press as a new system for media production was crucial for Enlightenment
the uncensored access to books had a great influence on the public opinion and prepared the way for the French revolution
Slide 4 - Technical Media
What makes a human being a media User?
The initial motivation to use technical Media is probably laziness and the want to save time
It is our conviction that our life and well-being depends on the access to information or our ability to communicate whith others
We cannot imagine anymore living in a world without phones, radios and television sets.
In the present world digital communication has become a major economy factor and created many jobs.
We are users and communication is like a drug
Thus the decision to be a User is utterly subjective and influenced by the drug lords of the communication industry.
technical media can create simultaneous experiences, for example when live events like soccer championships are broadcasted on television... I suppose most people in the audience know who Zinedine Zidane is.
Slide 5 - Digital Media
Today we can create completely new media experiences through new Human-Computer Interfaces
(film start)
I am gonna give you an example of a system that is widely used today by DJs. The Serato scratchlive system converts sound and music from the analogue to the digital world using a hardware interface and a processor.
the device enables the DJ to play and scratch digitized music with a turntable and an analogue vinyl record containing a timecode
(wait for scratch)
when a DJ samples a loop information is converted to Data
in the example the DJ records a drum loop.
if recorded on physical media, the drum loop is fixed
when it is digital, the sound information becomes independent of the drum
others can work and play with it
one of the main objective of Digital Media is to create new experiences
the creators and producers of Digital Media intend to create alternative ways for people to exchange information and share their experiences.
the cost to create, transmit and receive information is reduced
Slide 5.1 - Digital Media Conclusion
Digital Media made information independent of its representation
Slide 6 - Convergence intro
Convergence means that different entities come together or approach each other.
In the recent years the term convergence has become a buzz-word for the development of new technologies in the field of digital communication.
Convergence is not a new technology but it is a term for the process of technologies converging.
This process has started some years ago and it can be illustrated by a timeline.
Slide 7 - Convergence timeline
100 years ago Devices, Services and Networks were connected.
People exchanged Text Messages using Letters, Mail or Telegrams.
Speech could be only transmitted through Phones via Telephone Lines
in the beginning each Content Type was aligned with a specific technical Media
wait for 1950
50 years ago the connection of Content and Devices started to break up.
moving pictures became independent of Cinemas because of Television.
Music could be received on radio, but with the introduction of Cable Television people could also watch video clips on MTV
However, for each Content Type people still had a specific Device (e.g. radio for music, TV for moving pictures, phone for speech)
wait for 1995
About 15 years ago the processing power of personal computers was good enough to encode/decode digital audio/video
at the same time the bandwidth of networks got sufficient to transfer compressed digital audio and video in real time
Slide 8 - Personal Computer
As a result of the digital convergence people only needed one device to exchange the different media types: the Personal Computer.
speech (dialogue) was independent of the phones
music was independent of the records
news broadcast was independent of the radios
movies were independent of the cinemas
Slide 9 - Convergence Definition
This brings us to an important definition: The technological Convergence implies that
Content is independent of Networks, Services and Devices
Slide 0 - New Dependencies (10)
More interesting things happened in the last decade:
About 1996 the digital MP3 format started to revolutionize music distribution and gave the music industry a headache.
Also in the 90ies broadcasters started to use the MPEG2 format for the transmission of television signals over satellites and broadband cables.
Around 2000 Peer-to-Peer Networks like Napster offered a completely new way for many users to share MP3 music and MPEG2 videos.
However, it seems that in the last decade new dependencies have been created.
Today Users depend on Devices
many children in Europe play video games for several hours every day.
Users depend on Networks (e.g. Major Telecommunication Service Providers)
if I cannot be reached on my Mobile Phone during working hours my boss will become angry
Users depend on Services (e.g. Mobile Telephony Service Provider, Google, Youtube, Myspace)
is there anybody in the audience who is not using google to search the Web?
Why did this happen?
Slide q - Media and Economy (11)
From very high level perspective the relationship between Media Users looks like this picture:
on the left side there is a Creator who creates a Work (e.g. a text, a piece of music). The Creator owns the Copyright of his Work, therefore he has a 'C' on his head.
on the other side there is an End-user who consumes the Work - therefore he wears the headphones
The guy with sunglasses between the Creator and End-user supervises the activities of the two Value-Chain players.
Slide q > - Media and Economy (11.1)
A typical Media Value Chain includes some more Users. In the picture the guys with the hands add value to the Creator's work.
the Producer makes a product (e.g. produces a sound recording of a musical Work in his studio)
the Aggregator combines different products (e.g. combines different sound recordings to a radio channel - in this case the Aggregator is called radio station)
the Distributor transfers products to the End-users (e.g. in the radio example the Distributor could be provider of a national broadcasting network)
the Device Manufacturer produces the devices to receive and play Content (e.g. this could be a manufacturer of radios, iPods or any other equipment the End-user needs to listen to the music)
Slide w - Operator Business (12)
A Digital Media Business Model describes the Rules governing the exchange of Content between Value-chain Users.
It is always the End-user who pays for Content - either in the form of money or in the form of other Value Expressions like the attention to advertising.
This is a Business Model I call 'Operator Business'
the End-user pays money to buy a Device
the End-user pays money to a Service Provider. The Service Provider is a cartel of Aggregator and Distributor.
the Service Provider collects the money and pays the Producer for the Right to distribute Content
the Producer takes his share for the production and pays the Creator
the Service Operator collects the major share of the money - therefore he controls the business
Examples for Operator Business are Pay-TV services and Mobile Phone services.
Slide e - End-user Business (13)
This is another Business Model - I call it 'End-user Business'
Here the major share of the money is spent by another guy with a 'C' on his head. This guy lives in the physical world and controls a value-chain where physical products are sold to End-users
The advertising dollars are collected by an Aggregator who combines Content with Ads
In return the Aggregator pays money to the Producer and the Distributor
The Aggregator collects the money and therefore he controls the business
Examples for End-user business are Free-TV, radio stations, and many web sites (of course google).
Advertisers finance aggregation and distribution of Content (Free-TV)
Slide r - Conclusion (14)
the Media Industry's business models shape the Value-Chain
the objective of the Media Industry is to maximize profit
different media business models compete against each other
because they collect the money, service providers need to control access to their Content
for this purpose service providers, network providers and device manufacturers create so-called walled gardens
the walls are built with proprietary technology protected by patents and trade secrets
producers of physical goods need to sell many products
therefore advertising business models must make sure that users pay attention to physical products
in order to create User attention advertisers must offer new Media experiences to users
Slide t - Society Intro (15)
let's assume that common moral values unite a society
media enable people to share experiences but the moral values of User depend on common experiences
thus governments could consider it as their mission to unite society
if the Media Industry controls the Media Value-Chain governments risk that moral values of society become too dependent of industry interests
therefore Governments want to keep some control of Media
Slide z - Society players and relationships (16)
From a Media perspective one could claim that Society consists of Creators, End-users and Governments
Slide u - Relationships (17)
The Users who form a Society exchange experiences and information. In return they can live together more or less in peace.
What is the relationship between these players?
it's a give and take relationship - Users exchange information and physical goods
it's a sell and buy relationship - Users exchange expressions for Value (money, reputation)
the relationships between the Users require a certain degree of Trust
in a democratic society Users elect Governments, because they trust that the rulers make wise decisions
also business relationships and private relationships must be trustworthy
Slide i - Deregulation (18)
Governments control the relationships between other Users through Media legislation and regulation
Goverments can pass more Media Laws (the speed of the blue paragraph signs increases)
As a consequence it is possible that the freedoms of the Media Industry to make business are cut down (the speed of the dollar signs decreases).
The question is what can happen if a Government releases the control of Media Laws
Slide o - Commercial Monopolies (19)
let's assume that Media are deregulated, because a Government hopes that competition between different Media Services will create better quality of service and larger choice
On the one hand: it is possible that monopolists get into power
we can expect that monopolists (e.g. Service Providers who control a TV network) protect the right to publish popular events (e.g. the right to broadcast soccer championships)
the transmission of popular events is big business for commercial services
however, if monopolies control the Media business, there is a certain risk that niche content will disappear
another risk is that service quality will decrease (e.g. I have the impression that the speech quality of IP telephony is worse than the old analogue telephone line)
and there is certainly the risk that in order to protect their business models the monopolists will send lobbyists to governments to influence legislation (e.g. Copyright legislation, DMCA)
Slide p - User Control (20)
On the other hand it could be possible that users get into power when Governments deregulate Media.
Internet users publish, share and receive Content for free
Although it is for free, the choice offered by Internet Publishers is much wider than the Content offered by traditional Media
The Intermediaries between Creator and End-user play only the role of the "helping hands", but they don't control the business
One drawback for many Governments is that the Internet cannot be controlled by authorities
Therefore Governments risk that moral values decay and society disintegrates
Slide a - Different licensing policies (21)
Because of Copyright Content Creators have the power to decide on the conditions of accessing their Content
Rights Holders need to decide between their non-commercial and their commercial interests
Governments must take care that a balance between the two systems exists
Usually the conditions for using Content are written down in a License agreement
Slide a > - Different licensing policies (21a)
This table compares the benefits Value-Chain users may expect from different licensing policies
If a Creator publishes a piece of Content under an Open Release license, other Users can access his Content for free.
as a reward the Creator can expect that he becomes famous in his community
a public benefit is the free access to knowledge
A Commercial Monopoly can not release Content for free, because the commercial objective is to maximize the profit of a company
as we saw in the business model diagrams, certain Value-chain Users collect money and redistribute it to other Users
a benefit to Creators and Producers is that they are paid for their work, can make a living and (hopefully) create high quality Content
Slide s - Interoperability Intro (22)
The Content format has always been the force driving consumer adoption of new content distribution forms
From the perspective of End-users Interoperability is the ability to play the same type of Content obtained from different providers with the same Device
Interoperability means that the sender can be sure that the receiver can interpret and understand his message
it is a requirement for many digital media business models
In the digital space Interoperability is not only necessary at the level of End-user devices (e.g. Media Players), but also at the level of other Devices (e.g. Content Creation Devices) that market players employ to do business between them.
Interoperability requires that different Media Devices speak the same communication Protocols and are equipped with identical Interfaces.
These Protocols and Interfaces are defined by Standardization Organizations.
I would like to start the discussion about the role of Standardization with a definition coined by the founder of MPEG:
Slide d - Standardization (23)
"Standardization is the process by which individuals recognize the advantage of all doing certain things in an agreed way and codify that agreement" (Leonardo Chiariglione)
of course this process heavily depend on the question
who are these individuals
what are the rules of their standardization process
Let's discuss the difference between Internet standards and the standards of the Media Industry
Slide f - Internet Standards (24)
You all know the World Wide Web standards. Many Internet Standards have been developed in the Public Domain, that is as a free exchange of concepts and ideas between researchers who created the Internet.
thus for Internet Standards the answer to the question "who are these individuals" is: anybody who is interested in Interoperability between devices
and the answer to the question "what are the rules of their standardization process" is: in principle everybody can contribute
Fade to Rainman
In 1989 Tim Berners Lee invented the World Wide Web while at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory. He wrote the first web client and server in 1990.
Very soon America Online (AOL) started a commercial service to publish Content on the Internet. Unlike HTML, RAINMAN commands were kept strictly confidential by AOL.
Soon it was clear that AOL would not succeed with a proprietary standard
all the interesting Content was available on websites written in HTML
the real advantage of the Web standards was that everybody could understand how they work (by clicking "view source" and writing their own HTML pages)
Moreover, the tools to publish and render Web Content were available for free.
Tim Berners Lee's original web implementation was not just open source, it was licensed to the Public Domain (in other words: Tim the author of web tools made sure that nobody owned the Copyright of his code)
Slide f > - Internet Standards (24a)
The history of the Web shows that Independent Internet standards (e.g. RFC, W3C) were more successful than industry standards
The Web proves that Interoperability is a result of Free Software
Slide g - Media Industry standards (25)
While the Internet Users started to publish texts and little graphics on the Web, the Media Industry was concerned with the specification of standards for the compression of large audio- and video files.
Many media standards have been standardized by the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO)
ISO/IEC JTC 1/ SC 29 is the Technical Committee responsible for Coding of audio, picture, multimedia and hypermedia information
This Technical Committee's other name might be more familiar to you
Slide h - MPEG (26)
in 1988 Leonardo Chiariglione founded MPEG (the Moving Picture Experts Group), because he was disappointed that other international committees failed to agree on a common standard for High Definition Television
The group's intent was to put technology ahead of commercial concerns.
a number of MPEG standards have been developed and successfully adopted by the Media Industry, i.e.
the MPEG-1 standard (VCD and MP3),
the MPEG-2 standard (digital television set top boxes and DVD),
the MPEG-4 standard (music and video on cell phones, compact movies)
a range of newer standards, such as MPEG-21 - Multimedia Framework.
until today Leonardo chairs the international ISO/IEC standards committee SC29/ WG11.
Slide j - MPEG Philosophy (27)
Standards should specify tools and sets of tools that can be relocated across systems--they should not specify whole systems, unique to particular applications.
Slide j > - MPEG Philosophy (27)
Just one tool should be assigned to any given function (though a tool can perform more than one function).
Slide j >> - MPEG Philosophy (27)
Standards should be limited to the minimum necessary to get a job done (and, accordingly, should eschew those bells and whistles that companies, industries, and countries try to inject to secure an exclusive position for their products).
Slide j >>> - MPEG Philosophy (27)
Experts should formulate standards before industries get committed to particular solutions – that is to say, standards should lead the market, not follow it.
Slide j >>>> - MPEG Philosophy (27)
Above all else, standards bodies have to stick to the deadlines they set.
Slide k - MPEG Adopters (28)
The DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) consortium adopted the MPEG-2 standards to store compressed audio and video files on disks
The DVB (Digital Video Broadcast Project) works on the standardisation of digital TV in Europe. DVB transmits MPEG2 over the air.
These two standards can be considered the most successful industry standards for Digital Media Consumer Devices
It is noteworthy that both DVD and DVD standardization consortia are governed by the Media Industry.
As a consequence adopters of these standards need to pay membership fees and sign legal documents to access certain parts of the standards
It is also noteworthy that Hollywood studios contributed to these Media standards.
One condition to license Hollywood movies to DVD and DVB was the application of proprietary Copy Protection Systems (e.g. CSS and region codes for DVDs).
Because Device Manufacturers need to sign contracts to access parts of industry standards (e.g. the CSS specifications), the Media Industry can exert legal pressure.
Slide l - LinuxTV (29)
In 1998 I founded a company called Convergence Integrated Media
My company joined the DVB consortium and bought the standards
Then we developed the software to receive digital television on Linux computers
We released the source code of our software under a Free Software License (the GPL). Today our DVB software is part of the official Linux kernel
The Linux community quickly understood that their computers could not only play thousands of satellite TV channels, but also
record TV as MPEG-2 streams on harddisks
transcode MPEG-2 to other video formats (e.g. MPEG-4)
rebroadcast television to the internet
Soon it was clear that a Linux users could do many things that were not possible with a set-top box you could buy in a shop
The CE industry had to react...
Slide l > - Linux on Set-Top Boxes (30)
... and the CE industry did react.
Less than 10 years after the initial release of our DVB code, a substantial share of the digital television receivers available in the market are running Linux
All major chip manufacturers are offering Linux as a development platform for their set-top box chipsets
Another technology that was developed by the company Convergence is DirectFB. DirectFB provides a very efficient method to render User Interfaces with the embedded chipsets used by Consumer Electronics devices
Like LinuxTV we released DirectFB under a GNU license
DirectFB has been adopted for industry standards by the CELF (Consumer Electronics Linux Forum) and LiPs (Linux standards for mobile phones)
Today Linux has a market share of 30 percent in the smart phone market
In other words: a major part of todays Consumer Electronics Devices is running Linux and our LinuxTV and DirectFB software
Because of the GNU license of the Operating System in theory everyone is free to modify the software of our CE Devices
Sometimes people ask me how I got profit from this project
In 2002 the company Convergence went bankrupt, because our investors did not see that me made any profits
About 50 people in Berlin (including myself) lost their jobs and had to find new work
However, today many Convergence developers are well paid by the industry as experts for LinuxTV and DirectFB
The knowledge about the code has created new jobs.
And, because we (and you and everyone) owns the copyright of the source code running the Devices, we have some power to influence mass media.
I am glad that I could contribute to this development.
To know this is the profit I got.
Slide y - Impact of Free Software (31)
Users have developed their own Media. There are more than 72 Million Blogs worldwide and every day 120.000 Blogs are created.
What Users can do with Free Software can not be controlled - neither by Governments nor by the Media Industry
Users created de-facto standards for their Media by releasing software under Free Software licenses
Either the Media Industry will need to follow (e.g. by implementing browsers in CE devices and providing access to services like Youtube)
Or Industry will need to create so-called Walled Garden to hold off their customers from User Generated free Content.
Slide x - Rights Management (32)
A DRM system is a form of communication management
The current situation in Digital Rights Management is bad for the Users
different platforms exist for different Content Licensing policies
the Web supports the Open Release of Content - financed by advertising
the Media Industry supports proprietary DRM systems to protect their old business models
think of Pay-TV Conditional Access Systems, Copy Protection in Apple iPods.
the monpoplists of the traditional Media Industry try to defend their businesses by controlling the access to Devices and Networks.
We run the risk that DRM systems reduce the digital world to a set of non-communicating islands
As a result stupid DRM Users will need to
buy different devices (depending on business model)
connect to different networks (depending on the service providers)
access to certain knowledge or services is difficult or illegal
Slide c - Impact of Rights Management (33)
This cartoon shows what what could happen if Network Providers created a "vertically integrated" network.
It just says the Internet is various categories of applications.
The price for Internet Access depends on the types of applications.
It's also worth noting how it doesn't say anything about the capacity of the connection, even for the "full Internet access" available by request in the fine print.
Slide v - Interoperable DRM (34)
It is law, policies and business models that drive DRM (Leonardo).
The problem with DRM is not the technology - there are excellent examples of solutions - but the forces that drive it.
The reason that things are stagnating is shown by the many cases of DRM "standards" developed as the codification of technologies suited to a particular business model.
Slide b - Political spectrum (35)
Basically, Digital Media consist of data and data can be copied.
However, many people are debating about legal and technical restrictions to copy data.
I would like to give you a quick overview of the different camps fighting against or for Copyright and Digital Rights Management.
Slide n - Telekommunisten (36)
The Telekommunisten are a group of people in Germany who coined a new term: Venture Communism - as opposed to Venture Capitalism.
Their basic claim is that Intellectual Property, including Copyright, is the extension of property to immaterial assets, to information.
They say that Copyright is just a legal construction that tries to make certain kinds of immaterial wealth behave like material wealth, so that they can be owned, controlled, and traded.
If I understand them correctly, the Telekommunisten want to do away with DRM by abolishing Copyright and intellectual property.
Anyway, it's an interesting position, but I am not sure if the time is right for this utopia.
Slide m - FSF (37)
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) was established in 1985. They promote the development and use of free software, particularly the GNU operating system, used widely in its GNU/Linux variant.
The FSF claims that the purpose of Copyright is not to prohibit the access to art and beauty. Software should be widely available and it should be free. The GNU Public license (GPL) guarantees that
you can run the program as you wish;
you can study the source code and change it to do what you wish;
you can make and distribute copies, when you wish;
and you can distribute modified versions, when you wish.
The FSF is not against Copyright, but they are against commercial business models. Actually, they use the Copyright system in lawsuits against companies who violate Free Software licenses.
Quoting the GNU manifesto: "Extracting money from users of a program by restricting their use of it is destructive because the restrictions reduce the amount and the ways that the program can be used".
According to the FSF the motive for DRM schemes is to increase profits for those who impose them, but their profit is a side issue when millions of people's freedom is at stake; desire for profit, though not wrong in itself, cannot justify denying the public control over its technology.
Slide , - Creative Commons (38)
the Stanford professor Lawrence Lessig applied the principle of Free Software to Content (Text, Audio, Graphics, Video)
Creative Commons licenses provide Creators with a standardized way to express that others may copy or reuse their Works for free.
It is possible to express Creative Commons licenses in a DRM system.
Actually, Lessig supports the development of open-source, royalty-free DRM standards that support 'fair use' and that don't block the development of Creative Commons ideals.
Slide . MPAA/ RIAA (39)
The Major movie studios and the Major record labels are organized in the MPAA/ RIAA.
These organizations spend a lot of money for lawyers to sue filesharing teenagers or college students
Their marketing people spread propaganda like 'copy kills music' or 'You can click but you can't hide'
using political pressure the studios managed to change international Coypright law.
10 years ago the Digital Millenium Copyright Act DMCA was introduced in the USA. Today it is a criminal act to publish a Copyrighted piece of Content in most parts of the world.
However, as a matter of fact data can be copied and most End-users share music and movies.
Moreover, consumers don't accept DRM system on their devices
As a consequence the music industry is quite dead today.
The latest development is interesting. The Major Four record labels just announced that they will sell DRM-free music. However, their music files will contain a watermark.
It can be imagined that - if the Media Industry controls the Distribution Infrastructure (the Networks) - these watermarks could enable ISPs to filter out peer-to-peer traffic when they detect a copyright work in transit.
Thus watermarking MP3s is just another form of DRM
Slide - - My Position (40)
if the Industry is going to use DRM, it is clearly better that they'd use an open standard - then at least there is a chance that the DRM is not a reason to make the content locked into a proprietary one-vendor/one-platform solution.
Therefore I contribute to an open DRM standard
Distribution of content using digital versions of Creative Commons licences is a form of DRM which does not require (indeed it should not have) any Rights Enforcement.
It is conceivable that some Content will need lightweight technologies for Rights Management Information (e.g. watermarking) while premium content will need strong Rights Enforcement (e.g. encryption).
These three (and possibly more) levels of DRM could be easily signaled on content.
An open source implementation of a DRM system has valuable uses (e.g. expressing copyright, encouraging users to share,...)
(Richard Stallman would probably disagree with this opinion, saying that DRM is always a form of oppression and producing a good system of oppression is actually worse than a bad system.
I would reply that it is unlikely that a system of oppression will not be introduced because it's opponents ignore it. A better strategy is to get involved with people who design the systems (e.g. standards bodies).
Since copyright law provides exceptions it should be even possible to design some loopholes in the standard (e.g. the ability to copy content for private use).
Slide ! - Managing Rights (41)
A simplified picture of the political spectrum looks like this:
the green bubble represents a society of people who want to exchange Content and software for free. The Free Software Foundation and the Creative Commons movement would rather support the green system.
the red bubble represents a society which exchanges Content for money. The traditional Media Industry supports this system.
Now the question is: how can the red bubble and the green bubble coexist?
Slide ! > - Managing Rights (41a)
If we assume that they can, we must first lay down the neutral rules that market players will have to follow.
Then we must work out the technical means - standards - that can be used to achieve those goals;
Lastly we will design the necessary regulation - only if technology, left in the hands of market players and citizens, cannot lead us to attain the goals that we want to achieve.
Slide " >> - Chillout (42b)
A basic rule in standard development is that technical and political problems should not be solved at the same time.
I contribute to the DMP, a project that was initiated by the MPEG founder Leonardo Chiariglione four years ago to develop a technical solution so that the red and the green bubble can coexist on the same Device.
Chillout is an Open Source implementation of an open standard for managing Rights in Digital Media.
The technical specifications developed by DMP have been standardized by ISO as Media Streaming MAF (ISO/IEC 23000-5)
Slide " >>> - Chillout Architecture (42c)
This is a diagram of the architecture of the IDP-3 Environment
The different Devices exchange information about licensing and Copyright of content
The Chillout Architecture can be implemented by anybody
Interoperable because of Toolkit Standard (Tools implement open Protocols and Functions for communication between Devices)
Slide " >>>> - Future Media Business Models (42d)
Finally I would like to present some ideas about future economic models.
Some people think that sharing and cooperation is better for the people
Other people support the idea that property and competition is good for society.
peer economies (green) | market economies (red) -------------------------------------------------------- (sharing and cooperation) | (property and competition) communism | capitalism
It seems that in the digital world the peer economies work whereas in the physical world the market economies are stronger.
Slide $ - A new Economic Model (44)
Some people on a mailing list proposed that there is a new economic model called communalism:
the idea is that people combine the advantages of peer economy in the digital world with capitalism in the physical world.
an increasing number of physical processes have significantly digital components. In the digital world, people exchange knowledge for free. In the physical world they use this knowledge to produce physical goods and make business. The physical aspects are simply executional steps at the end of a chain of digital manipulation. (Clay Shirky)
peer production is neither a traditional market nor socialism (Lucas Gonze <lucas@gonze.com>
Slide % - Ravelry (45)
Let me present you an example that illustrates the Economic model of a community:
Ravelry is an online platform where (mostly female) Internet Users exchange information and photos about their knitting and crocheting projects.
Ravelry was founded by a couple: a girl who had a knitting blog and her boyfriend who knows programming websites. The two authors of this website started about 8 months ago. Currently there are about 50.000 subscribers.
The interesting thing about Ravelry is that this platform provides something new to people who sit at home and spend hours and hours with their needles and yarn:
they can show their creativity to other people
in return they are rewarded by other Users with compliments like "how beautiful"
they can learn about knitting techniques
thus the Ravelry platform creates some non-monetary value
The community's Business Model is the free exchange of information combined with sale of physical goods
Ravelry links to books with knitting patterns
If you find an interesting knitting project very often you only need to click to buy the yarn, the patterns and the needles
Slide & - Conclusion Intro (46)
Open Standards + Open Source = Open Media
Slide & > - Conclusion Claim (46a)
We can create our own Media (Devices, Networks, Content, Services)
Slide / - Conclusion Economy (47)
We can create our own media - so why are we not rich yet?
Maybe because we did not yet create our own money (pay and cash for Services)
Slide / > - Conclusion Prospect
Just to show you that some people already care about the next step I show you this diagram by an Italian project called dmin.it
It describes the architecture of an open payment system.
Slide ( - Peugeot (48)
I talked a lot about media today. Finally I will give my answer to the conference's question how free software and quality standards can benefit economy.
What are the requirements to the Media we create?
Take the Peugeot 504 as an example:
Slide ( > - Peugeot (48a)
Peugeut 504
this car is robust
cheap spare parts are available
I can repair it myself
The same is true for Free Software.
Free software and open standards can benefit society and economy, because they provide
Independence
Decentralization
Knowledge
Slide ) - Thank you (49)
