DREL Project Definition Report
Juliette Adams,
IEEE-LTSC-DREL,
Apr 09, 2003
The IEEE Learning Technologies Subcommittee (LTSC) Digital Rights Expression Language (DREL) group has just released an update on its public website. The PDF document is somewhat dry but contains the seeds of a looming conflict. The bulk of the paper describes the process for gathering requirements from stakeholder groups. No problem there. But then in the 'competitive assessment' section it describes four initiatives, two of which endorse XrML and one of which endorses the open standard, ODRL. Though its promoters argue otherwise, XrML is widely perceived to be a priprietary format which will involve licensing fees, anathema for those working on open source applications. And while the language may be a free and open standard, there is little doubt that applications using the language will be required to seek approval. I see no easy resolution to this debate, certainly not while one company thinks it owns the entire concept of DRM. You can push the standards through the industry bodies, sure, but you can't force people to use them.
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