From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 1997 10:38:55 +0800
To: Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>
Subject: Re: Superdistribution development/release
In-Reply-To: <v04002712b0aba8bd0101@[204.134.5.28]>
Message-ID: <v03007800b0abc492abcc@[168.161.105.216]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



Here an incentive: if anyone breaks this, I'll write an article about it
and another profiling the person who does.

When you have this kind of "encryption" scheme running on untrusted
hardware to which the user has access, it's doomed to fail. Even if it's
custom hardware, it'll probably be broken, but it'll just take longer.

-Declan


At 19:27 -0500 12/3/97, Robert Hettinga wrote:
>Yet Another Watermark...
>
>Anyone wanna take bets on how long before it's broken, or at least easily
>pirated?
>
>
>Cheers,
>Bob Hettinga
>
>--- begin forwarded text
>
>
>From: "Blair Anderson" <blair@technologist.com>
>To: "dcsb@ai.mit.edu" <dcsb@ai.mit.edu>
>Cc: "Peter Cassidy" <pcassidy@triarche.com>, "Brad Cox" <bcox@gmu.edu>
>Date: Thu, 04 Dec 97 12:58:05 +1300
>Priority: Normal
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>Subject: Superdistribution development/release
>Sender: bounce-dcsb@ai.mit.edu
>Precedence: bulk
>Reply-To: "Blair Anderson" <blair@technologist.com>
>
>Silver Bullet for Digital Publishing Arrives TragoeS Announces General
>Availability of RigthsMarket(TM)
>
> PR Newswire - December 02, 1997 16:10
> TRGO. %ENT %MLM V%PRN P%PRN
>
>CALGARY, Dec. 2 /CNW-PRN/ - RightsMarket hits the bull's-eye business
>opportunity of the 21st century - electronic commerce through digital
>publishing on the Internet for the $71.3 billion (US) publishing
>industry (Value-Line, April 11/May 20/May 30, 1997).
>
>``RightsMarket harnesses powerful economic forces that will show people
>the money in digital document publishing on the Internet,'' stated
>Lindsay Moir, President of TragoeS Inc., during the company's news
>conference November 18th at COMDEX `97, Las Vegas. ``With RightsMarket
>suppliers of digital documents will be paid and 99% of the revenue loss
>due to piracy will be eliminated.''
>
>TragoeS has successfully implemented the Superdistribution paradigm in
>RightsMarket. Superdistribution tracks usage rather than possession and
>is recognised as the best approach to selling digital property (digital
>versions of text, data, knowledge, pictures, music, videos, etc.) on the
>Internet. Pricing of RightsMarket is $50,000 (US) plus integration,
>support fees, and annual license renewal fees.  Unique RightsMarket
>features include:
>
>Persistent Cryptographic Wrappers (RightsWrapper) - No matter where the
>digital document (financial newsletter, educational test, minutes from a
>court proceeding, sensitive health care records, etc.) goes, no matter
>how it gets there, whether it is used and then subsequently
>redistributed, etc. the document is always encrypted.  It is never left
>decrypted and exposed even while it is being viewed.
>
>Rights Marketing `back office' (RightsServer) - Allows marketers to set
>the terms and conditions of use for the digital property.  Features
>include support for the newly announced international Digital Object
>Identifier (DOI) publishing standard.
>
>Fault Tolerant Middleware (RightsConnection) - Provides a secure link to
>the `back office' from the user's desktop.  As well, there is no
>requirement to be connected full time to the Internet in order to view
>the digital document.
>
>Metering and Enforcement (RightsClient) - Provides decryption services,
>meters use, and sends usage information to the RightsServer via secure
>middleware.
>
>Acrobat(TM) Trusted Tool plug-ins - Makes Acrobat, the world's most
>popular digital publishing tool from Adobe Systems Incorporated(C),
>ready for prime time digital document economic transactions on the
>Internet. With a plug-in for the Exchange and Reader, customers can
>encrypt documents and have a trusted player for viewing content.
>
>Shane Hayes, TragoeS' Vice President, Customer Implementation will be
>presenting at The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) Technology Forum
>Wednesday, December 10, 1997 in New York City.  The DOI is an important
>emerging international standard for identification of published material
>online. It forms the foundation layer of a set of technologies that will
>enable commerce in published material on the Internet so that copyright
>is protected, content creators can be compensated for their work, and
>consumers can benefit from technology that is sophisticated, yet
>seamless and easy to use.  The International DOI Foundation (IDF), a
>non-profit organization established to administer the DOI standard, is
>looking to technology vendors to implement the necessary technology
>components and integrate them into secure electronic publishing
>solutions for the IDF's constituency: the worldwide publishing industry
>and beyond.
>
>In April 1998 in Washington, DC, TragoeS Inc. will participate in a
>three day conference sponsored by the Library of Congress, the
>Association of American Publishers (AAP), and the University of
>Virginia. The conference is titled ``Exploring the New Media - The
>Paradigm Shift in Publishing: >From Book to Bytes''.  TragoeS Vice
>President, Marketing and Sales, Fred Yee, will sit on a panel discussing
>`Solutions to Copyright Protection in Cyberspace'.
>
>TragoeS Inc., established in 1993, is a Canadian high technology company
>specializing in software products and services that support financial
>transactions.  Its product, RightsMarket is the solution for the
>protection, metering and payment of digital intellectual property.
>TragoeS is a public company reporting in Alberta and Ontario and is
>listed on the Canadian Dealing Network (CDN TRGO).
>
>The Canadian Dealing Network or other regulatory authorities have
>neither approved nor disapproved of the information contained herein.
>SOURCE:  TragoeS Inc.
>
>     /CONTACT: Lindsay Moir, President, TragoeS Inc., (403) 571-1835,
>Fax:
>(403) 571-1838, Email: moirl(at)tragoes.com, Website: www.tragoes.com,
>www.rightsmarket.com or Mr. Peter Taylor, Investor Relations, (416)
>368-0121,
>Fax: (416) 368-9175/
>     (TRGO.)
>
>
>Blair Anderson  (Blair@technologist.com)
>
>International Consultant in Electronic Commerce,
>Encryption and Electronic Rights Management
>
>   "Techno Junk and Grey Matter"  (HTTP://WWW.NOW.CO.NZ [moving servers,
>currently inactive])
>   50 Wainoni Road, Christchurch, New Zealand
>
>          phone 64 3 3894065
>          fax     64 3 3894065
>
>Member 	Digital Commerce Society of Boston
>
>---------------------------- Caught in the Net for 25 years
>----------------------------
>
>
>
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>
>--- end forwarded text
>
>
>
>-----------------
>Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com), Philodox
>e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
>"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
>[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
>experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
>The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/
>Ask me about FC98 in Anguilla!: <http://www.fc98.ai/>