Re: Digital Talking Book Standard

[Luke Davis <ldavis@shellworld.net>]

For streaming you would use something dynamic such as SSH, not PGP.
However I see your point.


On Mon, 19 Nov 2001, Brent Harding wrote:

> Wow, so how would the public/private key encryption work to get the books
> rolling? I suppose, using something like pgp, I could generate you a key if
> I were the publisher and send it to you on a disk, and encrypt all the
> content I want you to have with it. But this involves a manual process for
> every individual. Thus for example, pgp shoutcast can't exist, in the
> current protocols since only one key can decrypt any one data stream. And
> also, some how you have to turn the encrypted content in to audio that can
> be transmitted through such things if you wanted a pay to hear audio stream
> for whatever it be. I was thinking of the idea once, but winamp would choke
> on the encrypted mp3 stream and refuse to transmit it, although in linux to
> decode you could theoretically do something like
> lynx --source http://aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd:port | pgp -d
> and enter your password for your private key.
> At 11:46 AM 11/19/01 -0500, you wrote:
> >Martin, your message is apt and to the point. And, your instinct for a
> >FREE software digital talking book player is also on the mark. Now is a
> >very, very good time for such a player to come into existence. As someone
> >who continues to be very involved in the development of the NISO/DAISY dtb
> >standard, I'd like to pose a challenge to the programmers among us:
> >
> >Please give us a dtb player or two which supports the new NISO/DAISY
> >standards--mostly. I say"mostly" because it is not the end of the world if
> >you can't immediately support MPEG. Please know that the NISO/DAISY
> >standards people are keenly aware of the problems posed by specifying
> >MPEG. Regretably, ogg-vorbis was not judged ready for prime time yet--so
> >if someone wants to work on that, that would also be helpful, because we
> >truly need a GPL compression package that provides quality files that will
> >compete well with MPEG.
> >
> >Let me say why we need a GPL dtb player right now. I am seriously
> >concerned that agencies will impose some kind of encryption technologies
> >which they will not want to describe to GPL programmers. That would be
> >most unfortunate. Far better, imho, for this community to show that a GPL
> >player can really do the job of accessing (both text and audio) dtbs well.
> >Far better to show that public/private key encryption may just be adequate
> >enough.
> >
> >The pendulum has swung away from tight controls, at least among the
> >libraries that serve our communities today. Frankly, the earlier version
> >of the NISO standard was a bit stricter about copyright enforcement--what
> >the publishers like to call "Digital Rights Management." I think even our
> >earlier, stricter model was still smarter than what we've been seeing from
> >commercial ebook publishers. The commercial publishers are putting the
> >onus on the user and are killing industry prospects by doing so. The
> >earlier recommendations are still online at:
> >
> >	http://www.loc.gov/nls/niso/drm.htm
> >
> >In summary, this earlier document expects that some, but certainly not
> >all, titles produced as digital talking books will need to be restricted
> >to qualified recipients in order to maintain long standing programs of
> >free access to books--as with NLS here in the U.S. This would also apply
> >to U.S. agencies such as RFB&D. It would, in fact, be the copyright
> >management scheme which would distinguish titles produced in the NISO
> >standard as qualified titles under the so-called "Chafee Amendement" to
> >U.S. Copyright law. Chafee is a good thing, and we should not lose it.
> >
> >The DMCA is another matter entirely. The NISO thinking was to put the
> >emphasis on catching willful violaters, not on needlessly encumbering
> >honest users. My expectation is that public/private key can do this very
> >well--and can do it in a platform independ matter.
> >
> >Of course there's a chicken and egg aspect to all of this. Who would build
> >a player when there's nothing to play? How would one even test it? Yet, I
> >would think that this community would not want to leave the definitions of
> >what's possible to agencies who are far more steeped in proprietary
> >software than is probably good for the community at large. So, let me
> >simply offer this: I will find some NISO/DAISY content for you to test a
> >player with if you are building a GPL player and need something to work
> >with. Just write me privately.
> >
> >Lastly, let me say just a little more about how much content is actually
> >out there. There is virtually none in the newest version of the standard
> >simply because it's still not 100% nailed down. The NISO folks have until
> >December 17 to vote on the specifications that were submitted to them just
> >a few weeks ago. You should know that we truly do not expect any problems
> >with this voting, and we do expect a lovely Christmas pressent shortly
> >after December 17.
> >
> >There is a fair amount of content available to earlier incarnations of the
> >digital talking book specifications as produced by DAISY. In particular,
> >it may be important for players to support the new NISO/DAISY
> >specifications at:
> >
> >	http://www.loc.gov/nls/niso
> >
> >as well as the older, DAISY 2.0 specifications which can be found at:
> >
> >	http://www.daisy.org
> >
> >In particular, RFB&D has been quietly testing textbooks in several K-12
> >schools for blind children around the U.S. They are hoping to begin
> >offering about 3,000 titles encoded in DAISY 2.0 to all their clients
> >sometime during 2002. Also, the talking book programs at CNIB and RNIB
> >(U.K.) are expecting to launch programs for their clients in the spring of
> >2002 with approximately2,500 titles in each. So, as you can see, content
> >does already exist in the older DAISY 2.0 specification, though it is not
> >yet generally available.
> >
> >Last point on the encryption issues. We expect that whatever copyright
> >based encryption/decryption is involved needs to be nationally based. In
> >other words, the laws that authorize free programs for blind (and
> >otherwise print disabled) people differ country to country. So, any
> >support for a particular solution needs to be modular in order to handle
> >such national differences.
> >
> >I want to end on a more cheerful point. Even mainstream publishers are
> >beginning to realize that encumbering users is a bad way to promote the
> >value of electronic publishing. Please take a look at this website:
> >
> >	http://www.openanebook.org
> >
> >It is intended to be a place for publishers of all kinds to offer their
> >free content and their free tools. So, if you know of any, please offer
> >them up there. And, if you have influence with any blindness agency or
> >ebook publishers, please get them to join DAISY and/or OEBF. We need
> >broader participation in both places in order to realize a vision of
> >epublishing which creates accessible titles that are comfortable and fun
> >to use while still paying authors and editors for the value they add.
> >
> >
> > On
> >Mon, 19 Nov 2001, Martin G. McCormick wrote:
> >
> >> 	I certainly hope that players for DTB's will be available
> >> for Linux when the technology actually begins to bear fruit.
> >>
> >> 	This truly is a wonderful next step in the Talking Book
> >> program. Just think of the logistical problems of moving and
> >> caring for physical materials that this solves.  There will still
> >> need to be traditional Talking Books for many years to come, but
> >> I think this is the future and it may get to a point where there
> >> won't need to be as many physical recordings produced as there
> >> are now.
> >>
> >> 	The one thing I see as holding things up is the one
> >> artificial technical issue and that is DRM or Digital Rights
> >> Management.
> >>
> >> 	How is that going to be accomplished?  The standards
> >> document simply says that digital rights management will be
> >> supported but probably wisely does not prescribe exactly what
> >> sort of mechanism will be used.
> >>
> >> 	Hopefully, being eligible to receive traditional Talking
> >> Books and Braille materials will enable one to also receive any
> >> DTB's they are entitled to receive.
> >>
> >> 	In the main-stream consumer world, digital rights
> >> management has not been doing too well.  Some systems are hacked
> >> almost before they are released.  Other systems tend to do the
> >> opposite and malfunction in ways their developers never thought
> >> of to cause honest users of the technology to be denied service.
> >>
> >> 	Some rights management systems have even gained the
> >> distinction of suffering from both maladies.  The crackers
> >> de fang the protection and the honest users discover that the
> >> software thinks they are thieves because of something their
> >> equipment or they accidentally did.
> >>
> >> 	This issue, not technology, has held up everything from
> >> digital audio tape a decade or so ago to present-day high-definition
> >> television systems.
> >>
> >> 	Linux and FreeBSD should actually be good test beds for
> >> this technology because it is based on open-source models and any
> >> hanky panky mechanisms such as back doors or scripting
> >> applications are a little easier to police than they are in
> >> proprietary operating systems.
> >>
> >> Martin McCormick WB5AGZ  Stillwater, OK
> >> OSU Center for Computing and Information Services Network Operations Group
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >> Blinux-list@redhat.com
> >> https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
> >>
> >
> >--
> >
> >				Janina Sajka, Director
> >				Technology Research and Development
> >				Governmental Relations Group
> >				American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)
> >
> >Email: janina@afb.net		Phone: (202) 408-8175
> >
> >Chair, Accessibility SIG
> >Open Electronic Book Forum (OEBF)
> >http://www.openebook.org
> >
> >Will electronic books surpass print books? Read our white paper,
> >Surpassing Gutenberg, at http://www.afb.org/ebook.asp
> >
> >Download a free sample Digital Talking Book edition of Martin Luther
> >King Jr's inspiring "I Have A Dream" speech at
> >http://www.afb.org/mlkweb.asp
> >
> >Learn how to make accessible software at
> >http://www.afb.org/accessapp.asp
> >
> >
> >
> >_______________________________________________
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> >Blinux-list@redhat.com
> >https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
> >
> >
>
>
>
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