NIST Special Publication 500-241 

Information Technology:

A Quick-Reference List of Organizations 

and Standards for Digital Rights 

Management 

Gordon E. Lyon
 
 

NIST Special Publication 500-241

Information Technology:

A Quick-Reference List of Organizations 

and Standards for Digital Rights 

Management 

Gordon E. Lyon 

Convergent Information Systems Division 

Information Technology Laboratory 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8951

October 2002

U.S. Department of Commerce 

Donald L. Evans, Secretary 

Technology Administration 

Phillip J. Bond, Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

Arden L. Bement, Jr., Director
 
 

Reports on Information Technology 

The Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) at the National Institute of Standards and

Technology (NIST) stimulates U.S. economic growth and industrial competitiveness through technical

leadership and collaborative research in critical infrastructure technology, including tests, test

methods, reference data, and forward-looking standards, to advance the development and productive

use of information technology. To overcome barriers to usability, scalability, interoperability, and

security in information systems and networks, ITL programs focus on a broad range of networking,

security, and advanced information technologies, as well as the mathematical, statistical, and

computational sciences. This Special Publication 500-series reports on ITL’s research in tests and test

methods for information technology, and its collaborative activities with industry, government, and

academic organizations.

Certain commercial entities, equipment, or materials may be identified in this 

document in order to describe an experimental procedure or concept adequately. Such

identification is not intended to imply recommendation or endorsement by the 

National Institute of Standards and Technology, nor is it intended to imply that the 

entities, materials, or equipment are necessarily the best available for the purpose. 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

Special Publication 500-241 

Natl. Inst. Stand. Technol. 

Spec. Publ. 500-241 

16 pages (October 2002) 

CODEN: NSPUE2 

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

WASHINGTON: 2002

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office 

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Page 1 of 14 October 9, 2002 

A Quick-Reference List of 

Organizations and Standards 

for 

Digital Rights Management

 G.E. Lyon 

Convergent Information Systems Division 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

Gaithersburg MD 20899-8951 

The field of digital rights management (DRM), sometimes called intellectual property management and protection (IPMP), is today a 

chaotic and not always workable mix of technology, policy, law and business practice.1

 There are many organizations active in DRM. 

Under such circumstances, even a modest guide or index of active organizations can be useful. In March 2002, experts at a NIST

cross-industry DRM workshop recommended that NIST take first steps toward such a guide. With the help of numerous workshop 

participants and others, this is the first edition of a DRM quick-reference list. 

About the Listings. The list has definite tradeoffs to preserve compactness and to limit maintenance. For example, the text contains 

many secondary-level acronyms that are left undefined—a reader must resolve these terms via Web searching or similar external 

referencing. Additionally, entries are placed, dictionary style, in alphabetical order rather than under topics. Entries in the table 

largely constitute an attempt to assemble a short set of descriptions about organizations in DRM (who they are, what they are doing) 2. 

The left side of each entry is a descriptor. The entry right side—somewhat ad hoc in layout—supplements by helping a reader explore 

further, usually at some Web site of an organization3

. Comments on earlier drafts indicate this format strikes reasonable balance for 

readers from the March workshop—entries convey information, yet overall, the list does not span too many pages. 

Quick-Reference List 

3GPP and 3GPP2 

Third generation wireless systems transmit broadband, 

packet-based text, digitized voice, video, and 

multimedia at rates circa two megabits per second. The 

Third Generation Partnership Project is a collaboration 

and harmonization effort among telecommunications 

standards bodies; the current set has ARIB, CWTS, 

ETSI, T1, TTA, and TTC. Project 2 (3GPP2) does not 

include ETSI. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances: Cf. www.3gpp.org/Management/OP.htm 

Observers— ACIF, TIA, TSACC 

Liaisons—Wireless Multimedia Forum (WMF) 

Membership: Telecommunication standards bodies may be 

Organizational or Observer Partners. Other statuses described at 

http://www.3gpp.org/membership/membership.htm.

See: http://www.3gpp.org/ and also http://www.3gpp2.org/

Remarks: 3GPP’s TSG-SA (WG4) is responsible for Technical 

Specifications for Service and Applications, with WG4 concerned with 

DRM issues as related to wireless services. 

4C Entity 

4C Entity licenses three DRM technologies—Content 

Protection for Prerecorded Media (CPPM), Content 

Protection for Recordable Media (CPRM), and the C2 

Encryption Technology. 

Major alliances: Cf. CPTWG entry. 

See: http://www.4centity.com/

Remarks: Currently, CPPM covers prerecorded DVD Audio and CPRM 

applies to recordable, removable media (DVD-R, -RW, -RAM, + two flash 

memory cards). 4C Entity offers C2 Encryption Technology, used for both 

CPPM and CPRM, independently for content on various media, removable 

or non-removable. The website also has information on the Content 

Protection System Architecture (CPSA) and on watermark application. 

CPSA is a conceptual framework for the integration of otherwiseindependent content protection technologies (including CPPM and 

CPRM). 

 

1

 The list entry “DRM” briefly sketches some of the property management and protection roles. 2

 Special thanks go to F. Attaway, M. Baugher, T. Dow, C. Garza, W. Hanniball, T. Hardjona, M. Hogan, V. McCrary, T. Rhodes, P. 

Schneck, R. Snelick, J. Thurston and B. Turnbull for inputs, suggestions and corrections to earlier drafts. 3

 Hyperlinks cannot be guaranteed. In a fast moving field such as DRM, the lifetime of some Web links has been short. 
Page 2 of 14 October 9, 2002 

5C Cf. DTLA entry. 

AAP 

The Association of American Publishers, Inc. has 

developed standard requirements for publishers in the 

field of electronic books (e-books) and metadata for the 

electronic marketing of conventional books. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances: 

• EDItEUR (which see) 

• BISG (Book Industry Study Group, which see) 

Efforts developed with participation from the publishing and e-commerce 

industries. Has 310 company members. 

Membership: A system of regular, associate and affiliate tiers with dues 

based upon sales in the field of publishing. U.S. Companies are specified. 

See: http://www.publishers.org/, and especially Digital Rights 

Management for Ebooks: Publisher Requirements, available at 

http://www.publishers.org/home/drm.pdf

Remarks: Defined requirements are voluntary and open standards.

ATSC 

The Advanced Television Systems Committee, Inc. is an 

international, non-profit membership organization 

developing voluntary standards for the entire spectrum 

of advanced television systems. 

Specific ATSC focuses are digital television, interactive 

systems, and broadband multimedia communications. 

ATSC has defined the digital TV standard for the U.S. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances: Key organizations contributing to the development of 

digital television and to the ATSC DTV Standard include the U.S. 

Congress and FCC, the FCC’s Advisory Committee, the Digital HDTV 

Grand Alliance, and the ITU-R. 

Other liaisons— 

Membership: http://www.atsc.org/membership.html gives details. Open 

to corporations, non-profits and government on a sliding membership fees 

scale.

See: http://www.atsc.org/

Remarks: DVB is the European equivalent undertaking (see below).

BASIC 

Book And Serial Industry Communications is a 

standards forum of BISG (see below). BASIC develops 

and maintains technology and electronic commerce 

standards. 

See: http://www.bisg.org/basic.htm

Remarks: Facilitates administration of electronic data interchange (EDI) 

formats for books and serials. Uses international EDI standards 

coordinated by EDItEUR, the international organization coordinating book 

and serial electronic commerce.

BIC 

The UK-based Book Industry Communication develops 

standards for e-commerce and communication in the 

book industry. BIC has three major focuses: 

bibliographic and EDI standards, the supply chain, and 

digital publishing. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances: EDItEUR, BISG 

Sponsors: The Publishers Assoc., The Booksellers Assoc., The Library 

Assoc., and the British Library. 

See: http://www.bic.org.uk/

Remarks: See ONIX entry. 

BISG 

The Book Industry Study Group is spearheading the 

management of the On-Line Information Exchange 

(ONIX) and promoting the standardization of e-content 

and ONIX tagging for the better dissemination of 

electronic matter. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances: AAP, EDItEUR, BIC 

Other liaisons— 

Membership: Five tiers, with fees ranging from $500 to $6000 per year: 

university, non-profit, library, associate and commercial. 

See: http://www.bisg.org/

Remarks: See ONIX entry. 

BPDG 

Broadcast Protection Discussion Group, a sub-group of 

CPTWG. 

Cf. CPTWG entry.

Remarks: Trying to resolve retransmission issues (esp. Internet 

retransmission) on DTV.
Page 3 of 14 October 9, 2002 

CDN A term signifying Content Distribution Network. May designate an 

electronic infrastructure for materials (including streams) that have digital 

rights or intellectual property management (DRM/IPM) requirements. 

CDN issues include security, efficient storage including caching, 

availability and quality of service. 

CEN/ISSS 

Comité Européen de Normalisation develops European 

technical standards. Experts work through Technical 

Committees (TCs), of which eight—all IT related—are 

in the Information Society Standardization System. 

ISSS aims for rapid market-driven informal 

specification plus the security of conventional, formal, 

open standardization. New, special DRM project 

examines standardization of technologies for digital 

rights management. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Recent ISSS draft DRM report widely circulated, see 

europa.eu.int/information. In March 2002, began an inventory of DRM 

standards work on sector, status, membership, schedules, process, activity, 

outputs, etc. Follow the link

http://www.cenorm.be/isss/Projects/DRM/NEW_WEB_SITE_Revised.htm

Membership: The DRM Group is open to any CEN/ISSS Forum member 

entity, or their representative, and to additional interested parties. 

See: http://www.cenorm.be/isss/

Contacts: giulia.cipressi@cenorm.be, James.Boyd@cenorm.be

Remarks: CEN/ISSS represents the European Union at the international 

level, e.g. ISO. 

cIDF 

Like the DOI (below) , the content ID Forum develops 

specifications for content identification and metadata 

that enable e-commerce and rights transactions for 

copyrighted information. cIDF and DOI have agreed to 

collaborate on building an infrastructure for the 

management of digital intellectual property. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Partners: ISO/MPEG, Indecs, IDF (DOI), TV Anytime Forum, DCForum, 

AMF, MAA, DCAj, AMD, CG-Arts Assoc., ARIB 

See: http://www.cidf.org/

Remarks: Established by Prof. H. Yasuda at the University of Tokyo. 

Provides mechanisms for copyright management, cooperates with other 

standardization bodies throughout the world.

CPTWG 

The Copy Protection Technical Working Group is an ad 

hoc public forum for discussing content protection 

technologies that inhibit access, use, or reproduction not 

authorized by copyright owners; CPTWG's meetings 

are attended by companies in the industries of content 

(esp. video and audio), consumer electronics, 

information technology, copy protection, and, by 

consumer interest groups. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Formal: The Broadcast Protection Discussion Group (BPDG) is a 

discussion group created by the CPTWG.

Interactions—See http://www.cptwg.org/html/LINKSPAGE.htm; also 

see entries for DVD CCA/CSS, 4C, DVD Forum, HDCP, DVD+RW 

Alliance. 

Membership: Formed by CEA, MPAA and the Information Technology 

Industries Council (ITI), with further support from RIAA and BSA 

See: http://www.cptwg.org/

Remarks: Presentations are made by vendors and experts. Discussion 

groups form to provide more in-depth review of particular issues when that 

is desired by the participants. Meetings are public forums held at the 

Renaissance Hotel, 9620 Airport Blvd., Los Angeles, CA (at airport). 

DCMI (Dublin Core) 

The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative is an open forum 

engaged in the development of interoperable online 

metadata standards that support a broad range of 

purposes and business models. This metadata work 

originates in describing bibliographic information for 

library publications. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances—See www.dublincore.org/about/participants/ for details. 

National library systems, etc. 

Other liaisons— CEN, IEEE/LOM, IETF, MPEG, NISO, W3C, PRISM; 

see http://www.dublincore.org/about/liaisons/

Membership: Open—participate by joining the appropriate mailing list 

for the working group activity of interest. 

See: http://www.dublincore.org/

Remarks: Standardized in the IETF as RFC 2413
Page 4 of 14 October 9, 2002 

DOI (IDF) 

The International DOI Foundation states, “The Digital 

Object Identifier (DOI®) is a system for identifying and 

exchanging intellectual property in the digital 

environment. It provides a framework for managing 

intellectual content, for linking customers with content 

suppliers, for facilitating electronic commerce, and 

enabling automated copyright management for all types 

of media.” The DOI is a "persistent identifier of 

intellectual property entities". Unlike a URL, it does 

not point to a location. The DOI specification was 

originally developed by the Corporation for National 

Research Initiatives based on their “Object Handle” 

specification.

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances 

• WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) 

• ISO (International Standards Organization) 

• NISO (National Information Standards Org.) 

• IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) 

• W3C (World Wide Web consortium) 

• OEBF/EBX (Electronic Book Exchange) 

• MPEG-21 (ISO Multimedia Framework—see entry MPEG) 

Other liaisons— CENDI, CIDF,CNRI, EDItEUR, ICE, <indecs>, XBRL; 

cf. 8.0 of DOI Handbook at www.doi.org/handbook_2000

Membership: Open to those interested in electronic publishing and related 

technologies. Non-members welcome to contribute. 

See: http://www.doi.org/

Remarks: Work is evolving rapidly.

DMCA 

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) 

treaties gave impetus to U.S. legislation called the 

Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. To facilitate 

digital, e-commerce growth, Congress implemented 

legislation that addresses WIPO treaty obligations not 

adequately addressed under existing U.S. law. 

Origin: U.S. Congress 

“...But as Congress recognized, the only thing that remains constant is 

change. The enactment of the DMCA was only the beginning of an 

ongoing evaluation by Congress on the relationship between technological 

change and U.S. copyright law. This Report of the Register of Copyrights 

was mandated in the DMCA to assist Congress in that continuing 

process....” From 

www.loc.gov/copyright/reports/studies/dmca/dmca_executive.html 

Level of controversy: Very high, both nationally and internationally

DTLA, (5C DTLA) 

The Digital Transmission Licensing Administrator

handles matters on the use of the DTCP (digital 

transmission content protection) method, which is 

licensed. DTCP details are available through the DTLA 

via terms of a nondisclosure agreement.

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances—5C=(Intel, Toshiba, Sony, Hitachi, Panasonic). 

Other liaisons—CPTWG (which see) 

Membership: 

See: http://www.dtcp.com/

Remarks: Content protection particularly aimed at transport on high 

performance digital buses.

DREL Cf. IEEE/LOM remarks. 

DRM

Digital Rights Management is a system of information 

technology (IT) components and services, along with 

corresponding law, policies and business models, which 

strive to distribute and control intellectual property and 

its rights. Product authenticity, user charges, terms-ofuse and expiration of rights are typical concerns of 

DRM.

For a generic DRM transaction, imagine A gets a request to send digital 

material X to B. The digital content X is typically combined by producer 

A with tracing information, giving (X + t). This tagged content is then 

encrypted along with rights-rules (RR) and user/document identifiers (ids) 

to yield e(X +t +RR + ids). A sends this result, e(...), to B. B has a 

compatible receiving environment, sometimes a special tamper-resistant 

reader, in which e(...) can be properly decrypted and used. The key to 

e(...) may be sent encrypted with B’s public key if there is one; B (and 

only B) then uses its private key to decode the message key. A third-party 

clearinghouse H receives and sends payments, logs trace information and 

controls authorizations to A and B as appropriate. 
Page 5 of 14 October 9, 2002 

DVB 

The Digital Video Broadcast project is an international 

industrial consortium of broadcasters, electronics 

manufacturers, network operators, software concerns 

and regulatory bodies. DVB is committed to designing 

European standards for the delivery of digital television 

and data services. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances: MPEG 

Membership: Cost = 10K euros ($9.2K) and member’s activities should 

fit one category—broadcasters, network operators, regulatory bodies, 

manufacturers/developers, or, academic institution. 

See: http://www.dvb.org/

Remarks: Uses MPEG-2 packets as information payload containers. 

Supplies critical Service Information with packets. See ATSC for North 

American equivalent. CP and CPT—copy protection and CP (technical)—

are DVB ad-hoc groups. Status of IPRM (the intellectual property rights 

module?) is unclear. ATSC (see entry) is North American equivalent 

effort.

DVD+RW Alliance 

This alliance comprises PC manufacturers, storage 

vendors and electronics manufacturers. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances 

Other liaisons—Cf. CPTWG 

Membership: http://www.dvdrw.com/join.html

See: http://www.dvdrw.com/

Remarks: There is no membership fee or contract. Membership includes 

developing DVD+RW products within specific time windows (a year or 

so). 

DVD Forum 

The DVD Forum—an international association of 

hardware manufacturers, software firms and other users 

of Digital Versatile Discs—exchanges and 

disseminations ideas and information about the DVD 

format. The Forum works to promote broad acceptance 

of DVD products on a worldwide basis, across 

entertainment, consumer electronics and IT industries. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Other liaisons—CPTWG 

Membership: Open to corporations or organizations linked to DVD 

research, development or manufacturing, or software firms and other users 

of DVD products interested in improving the DVD Format.

See: http://www.dvdforum.org/

Remarks: Promotes broad acceptance of DVD products worldwide, across 

entertainment, consumer electronics and IT industries. Membership 

exceeds 230 companies.

DVD CCA/CSS 

DVD Copy Control Association is a not-for-profit 

corporation with responsibility for licensing CSS 

(Content Scramble System) to manufacturers of DVDrelated products. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

See: http://www.dvdcca.org/

Remarks: See CPTWG, above.

EBNA 

“The E-Book Newsstand Association serves as the 

meeting place for companies active or interested in the 

delivery of periodical information to consumers or 

business customers via Electronic Books, Personal 

Digital Assistants, or Electronic Paper.” from Website

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances 

Other liaisons— 

Membership: Relatively inexpensive; open to companies and individuals. 

See: http://www.ebna.org/

Remarks: E-publishing is a representative class of users from DRM 

technologies and services.

ebXML 

ebXML is an international effort by The United Nations 

Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business 

(UN/CEFACT) and the Organization for the 

Advancement of Structured Information Standards 

(OASIS), which have joined forces to initiate a 

worldwide project to standardize XML business 

specifications. 

DRM coordination, interests: 

Major alliances—UN/CEFACT and OASIS (see entry for OASIS)

See: http://www.unece.org/cefact/, http://www.oasis-open.org/, 

http://www.ebxml.org/

Remarks: Competing efforts worldwide to define XML for global 

business exchanges has triggered this work, which addresses 

harmonization of electronic business formulations.
Page 6 of 14 October 9, 2002 

EDItEUR 

EDItEUR is the pan-European book sector EDI Group. 

An British-incorporated company, it co-ordinates 

development, promotion and implementation of 

electronic commerce in the book and serials sectors. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances: Recognized by the Commission of the European Union 

and by the Western European EDIFACT Board; supported by the 

European Federations of Library, Booksellers and Publishers Associations 

Other liaisons— International, with 90 members from 17 countries 

Membership: Open to enterprises with interests in EDI for the book trade, 

and, to related associations 

See: http://www.editeur.org

Remarks: See ONIX. Refer to www.editeur.org/ddd2_01.doc for the 

related EPICS data dictionary.

EPICS/ONIX 

EPICS refers to a comprehensive data dictionary 

developed by EDItEUR (see entry, above) and 

incorporated into the ONIX effort. 

Comment: EDItEUR maintains the EPiCS/ONIX family of standards; the 

family addresses the electronic use of information on book products. Also, 

see ONIX. 

HDCP 

High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection is a 

specification developed by Intel Corporation to protect 

digital entertainment content across the DVI interface. 

DRM coordinations, interests: 

Confer entry for CPTWG. 

See: http://www.digital-cp.com/

Remarks: HDCP specification implementation requires a license.

ICE 

The Information and Content Exchange is a protocol 

and management model for information reuse among 

Web sites—syndication. It promotes automated data 

transfer and management of results. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances 

• PRISM—Syndication (e.g. between Web sites) requires a common 

vocabulary. PRISM can describe ICE items, and, ICE can convey 

PRISM descriptions. 

Other liaisons— W3C 

Membership: Open, modest yearly charge. 25% discount for Int. Digital 

Enterprise Alliance members. Authoring Group membership fee is 10x 

higher. 

See: www.icestandard.org and http://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-ice

Remarks: Section 1.2 of note at www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-ice gives good 

number of details on relationships to other standards.

IDF 

International DOI Foundation. 

See: Entry for “DOI.”

IEEE/LOM 

The IEEE P1484.12 Learning Object Metadata

Working Group specifies syntax and semantics of 

Learning Object Metadata—attributes that describe 

entities used during technology-supported learning. 

LOM is one of several working groups of the parent 

standards group, the IEEE Learning Technology 

Standards Committee. 

DRM standards, liaisons, interests: 

Prometeus MoU: http://prometeus.org ; The IMS Project:

http://www.imsproject.org; The Ariadne Project: http://ariadne.unil.ch 

;European Schoolnet: http://www.en.eun.org ; IEEE/LTSC: 

http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/ltsc ; Virtual European School: 

http://www.ves.eu.org ; CEN/ISSS WS/MMI-DC ; ISO/IEC 

JTC1/SC36:http://www.jtc1sc36.org

Membership: Open, dues $200/year. 

See: http://ltsc.ieee.org/wg12/s_p.html

Remarks: Learning Objects include, e.g., multimedia content, 

instructional materials, software and tools. Co-sponsors workshops on 

Rights Expression Language (DREL), see 

http://www.cenorm.be/isss/Workshop/LT/digit-rights/Default.htm

IETF 

The Internet Engineering Task Force has no specialized 

DRM group, but it does have group key management 

efforts such as GDOI (Group Domain of Interpretation 

Rekey protocol) and MIKEY (Multimedia Internet 

KEYing) within its MSEC Working Group. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances: W3C (Cf. XKMS entry) 

Other liaisons— IRTF (GSEC Working Group) 

Membership: Open to any interested individual w/out charge.

See: http://www.ietf.org/

Remarks: Key management standards needed for DRM. 
Page 7 of 14 October 9, 2002 

IFPI 

IFPI represents the international recording industry: 

It fights music piracy, promotes fair market access and 

adequate copyright laws, helps develop legal conditions 

and technologies for industry in this digital era, 

and promotes music as an economic factor in addition 

to its social and cultural contributions. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances: IFPI works with its 46 national groups through 

international and regional offices 

Other liaisons—Closely affiliated with the RIAA (http://www.riaa.org/). 

Membership: Entity or person producing sound recordings or music 

videos available publicly in reasonable quantities. 

See: http://www.ifpi.org/

Remarks: A part of DRM involves interdiction, i.e., getting local 

authorities to enforce information protection laws against piracy. IFPI 

places heavy emphasis upon this aspect (see Web pages). 

INDECS 

INDECS is an international initiative of rights owners 

creating metadata standards for e-commerce. 

<indecs>TM stands for interoperability of data in ecommerce systems—it stresses structured metadata and 

data dictionary for interoperability. <indecs>TM 

Framework Ltd is a not-for-profit company encouraging 

well-formed metadata initiatives based on <indecs> 

methods. The project is supported under European 

Commission info2000 that embraces multimedia rights 

clearance systems (MMRCS). 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances 

ALCS (Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society Limited) 

www.alcs.co.uk

MCOS (UK, musical works, Composer/publisher societies) 

BILD-KUNST (Germany, visual arts, creator’s society) 

SACD (France, audiovisual and visual arts, creator’s society) 

IFPI (International/UK-based, sound recordings, trade association) 

EDItEUR (European/UK-based, book/serial/electronic publishers/libraries) 

KOPIOSTO (Finland) (Co-ordinating Partner) 

CEDAR (Netherlands) 

CAL (Australia) 

MUZE UK (UK subsidiary with MUZE US parent) 

Other liaisons— Many. See http://www.indecs.org/project/affiliates.htm

Membership: Partnership (cf. alliances, above) 

See: http://www.indecs.org/

Remarks: Affiliates include US Copyright Office, RIAA

INDECS2 

<indecs2> is a follow-on project to create a rights data 

dictionary (RDD) spurred by requirements of MPEG21 for a "consistent, ordered and machine-readable set 

of semantics ... describing the rights in intellectual 

property ... for permissions, such as 'print', 'copy', or 

'play', to be reliably and securely controlled for all 

information in digital form, online and offline." 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances—EDItEUR/ONIX, Int. DOI Foundation, RIAA/IFPI, 

MPA, Accenture, XrML (ContentGuard), Dentsu, Enpia are consortium 

partners. 

Other liaisons—XML, WIPO, MPEG(21) 

Membership: Partners 

See: 

Remarks: Responding to MPEG call using ISO/MPEG process; DOI 

dictionary as input; DOI developments will use output. 

IPTC--NewsML 

The International Press Telecommunications Council 

has two specifications for news (see NITF, below). 

NewsML supports automated transmission of news 

stories and wire services. It is an XML-based standard 

to represent and manage multi-media news throughout 

its lifecycle, including production, interchange, and 

consumer use. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances 

• with PRISM on common format and metadata vocabulary 

• XML 

Other liaisons—Use appropriate standards and recommendations. 

Membership: An independent international association of the world's 

leading news agencies and publishers.

See: http://www.newsml.org/

Remarks: PRISM, NewsML “largely complementary.” PRISM 

vocabularies can be used in NewsML. To replace IIM. Extensible and 

flexible. Use NITF for text with NEWSML. Plug-in NewsML parser 

available for browsers.
Page 8 of 14 October 9, 2002 

IPTC--NITF 

The IPTC also has an XML DTD (grammar) 

specification for news mark up. Called NITF for News 

Industry Text Format, it uses the eXtensible Markup 

Language (XML) to define the content and structure of 

news articles. With embedded metadata, NITF 

documents are far more searchable and useful than 

HTML pages. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances 

• work with PRISM 

Other liaisons— 

Membership: An independent international association of the world's 

leading news agencies and publishers.

See: http://www.nitf.org/

Remarks: PRISM group says “largely” complements their specification. 

NITF documents translate into HTML, WML (wireless devices), RTF (for 

printing), etc. State “it is a standard that is open, public, proven, well-used, 

well-documented, and well-supported.”

IRTF/IDRM 

Internet Research Task Force/Internet Digital Rights 

Management group examines new information rights 

technologies that impact the Internet. Seeks intellectual 

property network protocols and mechanisms that 

interoperate. Examples: directories, trust, privacy, 

policy, transport and security services. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

DOI; <indecs>; MPEG/MPEG4 IPMP; W3C DRM 2001 Workshop 

www.w3.org/2000/12/drm-ws/SDMI; XrML; ISMA; ODRL; XACML 

OASIS; MSEC/(GDOI and MIKEY) IETF working group covers key 

dissemination needed for DRM 

http://www.securemulticast.org/msec-meetings.htm.

Membership: open 

See: http://www.idrm.org/ for informative Web site 

Remarks: IRTF research complements engineering of IETF. Coordinates 

with IETF, other IRTF groups, to spot missing technology, recommend 

technical standards, etc. Note: Group charter revision underway, name 

change likely from IDRM. 

IRML See remarks portion of XBML. 

ISMA 

As standard XML based mark-up languages have fueled 

innovation and growth of today's Web, so strives the 

Internet Streaming Media Alliance to accomplish the 

same for the next wave of rich Internet content, 

streaming video and audio. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances: 35+ corporate entities have joined. 

Other liaisons— 

Membership: See http://ism-alliance.tv/html/join/indexjoin.shtml for costs 

of joining. 

See: http://ism-alliance.tv/

Remarks: The first specification from ISMA defines an implementation 

agreement for streaming MPEG-4 video and audio over IP networks. Ongoing work includes adopting methods for digital rights management 

(DRM), quality of service (QoS) and related technologies.

ITU-T 

The International Telecommunications Union is an 

organization within the United Nations system. 

See: http://www.itu.int/

Remarks: ITU-T recommendations developed by the Telecommunication 

Standardization Sector (formerly CCITT) constitute the basis for 

international telecommunication standards.

MIME 

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions specifies 

formatting for non-ASCII messages for transmission 

over the Internet. Graphics, audio, and video files via 

the Internet mail system. In addition, MIME supports 

messages in character sets other than ASCII. 

Remarks: Defined in 1992 by the Internet Engineering Task Force 

(IETF—see IRTF “remarks”). The newer S/MIME, supports encrypted 

messages. Has types, e.g., GIF for graphics files and PostScript for 

formatted files. It is also possible to define your own MIME types.
Page 9 of 14 October 9, 2002 

MPEG 

The Moving Picture Experts Group is an ISO/IEC 

working group for standards development of coded 

representation of digital audio and video. MPEG has a 

series of specifications promoting content 

interoperability pertinent to DRM: 

MPEG-2 A/V content for DVD and TV. MPEG-4 

multimedia content representation (metadata). MPEG-4 

IPMP (intellectual property management and 

protection) addresses connected appliances, with work 

on standalone progressing. MPEG-7 is content 

description (complements MPEG-4). MPEG-21 is a 

sweeping, ambitious framework for interoperable digital 

multimedia, transparent in use, user-friendly in practice. 

MPEG Rights Expression Language (MPEG REL) and 

MPEG Rights Data Dictionary (MPEG RDD) currently 

under development. MPEG REL based on XrML and 

the MPEG RDD based on the <indecs2> RDD. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

• ISMA (Internet Streaming Media Alliance) uses MPEG-4 

• ITU-T/MPEG video coding work for MPEG-4 

• IRTF/IDRM 

• W3C is interested in MPEG work, but thus far (5/02) reticent to 

pursue DRM. 

• XML, e.g., in MPEG-21 Digital Item Description--DID, also XrML 

and ODRL (both XML-based digital rights languages) submitted to 

MPEG-21 responding to Call for Proposals for Rights Expression 

Language. 

• Annex C (pp. 38-45) of report ISO/IEC 21000-1 points to many places 

of possible collaboration: 

http://www.tele.ntnu.no/users/andrew/Papers/MPEG-21-Part-1.pdf

Membership: Requires accreditation by a National Standards Body or 

standards committee in liaison. Experts attending MPEG not representing a 

committee in liaison must be members of a National Delegation under the 

responsibility of a Head of Delegation appointed by the National Body.

See: http://mpeg.telecomitalialab.com/

Remarks: Note that DRM = IPMP in MPEG parlance. 

MMS 

3GPP has defined a Multimedia Messaging Service that 

supports mobile user transactions via messages 

containing multimedia elements. 

See: 3GPP entry, above. 

Remarks: MMS builds on SMS (Short Message Service). It makes 

Internet/mobile phone messaging much richer, exchanging text, graphics, 

audio, photographic images and video clips between mobile devices. MMS 

is not, however, real-time.

NewsML, News Markup Language See XBRL entry, “Remarks.”

OASIS 

Organization for the Advancement of Structured 

Information Standards is a not-for-profit, international 

consortium that designs and develops e-commerce 

standard interoperability specifications using XML [see 

XML entry] as a basis. 

See: http://www.oasis-open.org/

Remarks: Together, OASIS and the United Nations sponsor ebXML, 

which is a framework for e-business data exchange. The consortium also 

operates XML.org, a clearinghouse for application schemas, vocabularies 

and related XML documents.

OASIS XACML 

The OASIS eXtensible Access Control Markup 

Language, XACML, is an XML specification for 

expressing policies for information access over the 

Internet. Issues to be addressed include fine-grained 

control, requestor characteristics, protocols over which 

requests are made, and types of activities authorized. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances: W3C, IETF, UN/CEFACT 

Other liaisons—Several efforts involving XML and electronic security are 

deemed germane to XACML and have liaisons to help ensure 

interoperability and to avoid duplication of work: 

- ebXML—e-business application of XML , 

- XKMS—distribution/registration of public keys, 

- DSML— directory information in XML 

Membership: Open in three levels of participation: sponsor, 

contributor, and individual. Details at http://www.oasis-open.org/join/

See: http://www.oasis-open.org/

Remarks: XACML defines a core schema and corresponding namespace 

for the expression of authorization policies in XML against objects that are 

themselves identified in XML.
Page 10 of 14 October 9, 2002 

OASIS RLTC—Rights Language Technical 

Committee 

The purpose of the Rights Language TC is to define the 

industry standard for a digital rights language that 

supports a wide variety of business models and has an 

architecture that provides the flexibility to address the 

needs of the diverse communities that have recognized 

the need for a rights language. Work is based on XrML 

submission from ContentGuard (see MPEG for other 

work based on XrML). See also the entry, below, for 

ODRL, an alternative rights language. 

DRM Standards, Coordinations, interests: 

This TC will continue to develop and act as the governance body for 

XrML, the eXtensible Rights Mark-up Language. This effort includes the 

XML 1.0 Specification, XML Schema, Namespaces in XML, Uniform 

Resource Identifiers (URI): Generic Syntax, Digital Object Identifier 

(DOI), ISO 3166 Codes for representing names of countries, ISO 4217 

Codes for representing currencies and funds, XML Path Language (XPath) 

Version 1.0 

XrML supports and may utilize additional industry standards: Dublin Core 

Metadata Initiative, Resource Description Framework (RDF), 

Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI), Web Services 

Definition Language (WSDL), XML-Encryption Syntax and Processing, 

XML-Signature Syntax and Processing

See: http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/rights/ ; http://www.xrml.org/

OASIS SAML 

The Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) is 

being developed by the OASIS XML-Based Security 

Services Technical Committee (SSTC). 

See: http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/security/ - documents

Remarks: The Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) is an XMLbased framework for exchanging security information expressed in the 

form of assertions about subjects. 

 

OASIS WSIA TC 

The OASIS Web Services for Interactive Applications

(WSIA) TC is developing a Web-services component 

model for interactive applications. 

See: http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/wsia/ - charter

Remarks: The primary deliverable is a matched set of XML vocabularies 

and Web Services interfaces that will deliver web applications via diverse 

channels and create web applications that can be easily changed via simple 

declarative means.. 

. 

ODRL 

The Open Digital Rights Language provides semantics 

for a digital rights management expression language 

and data dictionary. ODRL pertains to digital content 

in all forms: it expresses terms and conditions—

permissions, constraints, obligations, conditions, offers 

and agreements with rights holders. ODRL is designed 

for extension by different industry sectors (eg ebooks, 

audio, software) while retaining a core of interoperability. ODRL is freely available: There are no 

licensing requirements. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances 

• ODRL supports MPEG-21. It will be a compatible Rights Language 

supporting open and free interoperability within and across the 

MPEG-21 Multimedia Framework. 

• HTML and XML bases 

• [Sept. 2002] W3C has the Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL) 

Version 1.1 specification, published as a W3C Note. However, the 

chartering of a DRM/Rights Language activity remains an open issue 

within W3C at this time. 

Other liaisons— Has commercial and academic supporters. 

Membership: http://odrl.net/

Remarks: Refer to competitor entries XrML and OASIS RLTC.
Page 11 of 14 October 9, 2002 

OeBF (including EBX) 

Open eBook Forum, an international trade and standards 

group, welcomes hardware and software companies, 

publishers, authors, users of electronic books, and 

related organizations. OeBF provides a forum for the 

discussing issues and technologies related to electronic 

books, and, for developing and promoting adoption of 

common specifications and interoperable standards 

relating to electronic books. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances 

• BISG (Book Industry Study Group www.bisg.org) 

• DOI (Digital Object Identifier www.doi.org) 

• W3C (World Wide Web Consortium www.w3.org) 

• NISO (National Information Standards Org. www.niso.org ) 

• The Daisy Consortium (www.daisy.org) 

Other liaisons—AAP, Amer. Fed. Blind 

Membership: Principal Member subscribers have major voting rights. 

Corporations, organizations and private individuals may also join at 

nominal cost as non-voting Associate Members, who may, when approved 

by Working Group chairs, become voting members of Working Groups. 

See: http://www.openebook.org/ = http://www.ebxwg.org/

Remarks: EBX is now part of the OpenEBook Forum

OMA 

The Open Mobile Alliance, a new organization begun in 

June, 2002, seeks to develop the mobile industry by 

removing barriers to global user adoption and by 

promoting a high degree of application interoperability. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances: OMA is a consolidation of the Open Mobile Architecture 

initiative and the WAP Forum. 

Other liaisons: Location Interoperability Forum (LIF), SyncML, MMS 

Interoperability Group (MMS-IOP), and Wireless Village 

Membership: 200+ corporations and other interested parties. Fees run 

from $500 to $200,000 per year. 

See: http://www.openmobilealliance.org/

Remarks: Subsumes WAP Forum, among others. OMA wants to 

address interoperability issues while “allowing businesses to compete 

through innovation and differentiation” [from the Web site].

ONIX International 

The Online Information eXchange is a standard format 

used to distribute information about books 

electronically. The rich ONIX metadata (may have 

audio or video) replaces the information on the jacket 

cover. ONIX is a standard format for easy, automated 

use in the Web-supported supply chain by a variety of 

book wholesalers, retailers, and others.

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances: AAP, EDItEUR, BISG, BIC 

Other liaisons: BASIC (Book And Serials Ind. Communications) 

Membership: Typical committee members include American Booksellers 

Assoc., AAP, AAUP, AWBA, Amazon, Barnes & Noble 

See: www.editeur.org (Europe), www.bisg.org (US), www.bic.org.uk

(UK) 

Remarks: Future issues include provision for e-books, videos and for 

DRM elements. Based on the ubiquitous XML with an ONIX DTD 

(document type definition). Major on-line booksellers use it. 

PRISM 

Publishing Requirements for Industry Standard 

Metadata specification—is an extensible XML 

metadata standard for syndicating, aggregating, and 

generally, multi-targeting content for the printed 

medium. It supports interoperable content description, 

interchange, and reuse. Applications can be 

implemented without fees, but they must not modify 

PRISM namespaces and vocabularies. Unlike XrML, 

assumes in-place business arrangement. Aims at 

inexpensive use. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances 

• IPTC-NEWSML complements and overlaps PRISM; groups 

coordinate 

• PRISM recommends XML, RDF, the Dublin Core, and various ISO 

specifications for locations, languages, and date/time formats. 

• Beyond the above, it defines a small number of XML namespaces and 

controlled vocabularies of values. 

See: http://www.prismstandard.org/techdev/prismspec1.asp

Remarks: A simplified application of RDF (see below), but compatible. 

Uses Dublin Core vocabulary. Complements ICE. Complements, 

overlaps NITF from IPTC. Can use MIME for metadata packaging. 

Refer to http://www.oasis-open.org/cover/prism.html. 

RDF 

The W3C Resource Description Framework model uses 

XML to represent and transport metadata—can describe 

web resources (content, services, etc.). 

See: remarks in W3C entry

Remarks: PRISM (cf. above) uses a simplified resource description 

framework (RDF).

RIXML See remarks for entry XBRL. 
Page 12 of 14 October 9, 2002 

SAML See entry OASIS XML-Based Security Services Technical Committee 

(SSTC).

SDMI 

The Secure Digital Music Initiative comprises roughly 

150 participants representing a spectrum of information 

technology companies and allied music interests. 

SDMI's charter has been to develop open technology 

specifications that protect the playing, storing, and 

distributing of digital music so that a new market for 

digital music can emerge. SDMI has aimed at: 

• Providing convenient access to music online and 

via novel advent digital distribution 

• Assuring copyright protection for artistic works 

• Promoting development of new, music-related 

business and technology 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances—150 participants. 

Other liaisons— see Membership, below. 

Membership: Open to technology-based commercial companies having 

significant direct effect on digital music security. Societies and 

associations representing music industry interests who are members of the 

Music Industry Advisory Council may participate as observers. 

See: http://www.sdmi.org/

Remarks: SDMI has lacked sufficient technology to assure its 

requirements. Quoting text dated May 18, 2001, from the SDMI Website, 

“... SDMI is now on hiatus, and intends to re-assess technological 

advances at some later date. This decision does not affect the prior 

adoption of SDMI's portable device specification and Phase I watermark, 

which are in widespread use today.”

SMPTE (DC28.4) 

The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers

has a Technical Committee on Digital Cinema (DC28). 

In particular, DC28.4 works on specifications for 

security and rights related to digital cinema. 

Website: see http://www.smpte.org/

SSTC See OASIS SAML.

TV Anytime Forum 

The TV-Anytime Forum has member organizations that 

seek development of specifications to enable audiovisual and related services using local storage on massmarket,high volume consumer platforms.

DRM interests: 

Work is network independent and stresses interoperability. Delivery 

mechanisms can be ATSC, DVB and others. Security structures aim at 

protecting interests of all in chain of delivery. 

Membership: http://www.tv-anytime.org/

Remarks: Formed September 1999. It has started on open specifications

designed to allow applications to exploit local persistent storage. Working 

groups are (i) business models, (ii) system, transport interfaces and content 

referencing, (iii) metadata, (iv) rights managements and protection.

W3C 

The World Wide Web Consortium's Technology and 

Society Domain held a workshop on DRM in January, 

2001. However, domain participants have been slow to 

join any DRM effort, with many apparently content to 

have MPEG and others pursue the complex topic. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

• W3C Workshop on Digital Rights Management for the Web (January 

2001) http://www.w3.org/2000/12/drm-ws/

• Cooperation with MPEG highly likely if W3C does DRM work 

See: http://www.w3.org/Help/siteindex. 

Remarks: W3C develops specifications, guidelines, software, and tools 

that support the World Wide Web: these include the Resource Description 

Framework—RDF—to represent and transport metadata 

(www.w3.org/RDF), HTML, and XML. 

WAEA 

The World Airline Entertainment Association has a 

Technology Committee that includes a Digital Content 

Management Working Group. At a technical level, the 

association addresses hardware and content 

specifications for commercial aircraft. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances: airlines, studios, device manufacturers, digital materials 

labs, service providers. 

Other liaisons— ARINC, SMPTE, ISMA, MPEG-4 Forum 

Membership: representatives from over 100 airlines and 300 airline 

suppliers and related companies. Membership fees vary from $350 to $700 

per annum.

See: http://www.waea.org/

Remarks: The WAEA has produced a number of open, voluntary 

standards for entertainment information on aircraft, including DVD content 

protection (Specification 0598) and video-on-demand file servers 

(Specification 0395).
Page 13 of 14 October 9, 2002 

WAP Forum Content Download 

The Wireless Application Protocol Forum Ltd. had 

begun addressing DRM-IPMP issues in content 

download, including authentication, delivery, rights 

management, logging and billing. The WAP site is now 

being merged into the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) 

site. 

Possible Effort Co-ordinations: 

3GPP, SDMI, ISO/MPEG/IPMP, ODRL, XrML, XMCL 

See: http://www.wapforum.org/ and the replacement site, 

http://www.openmobilealliance.org/.

Remarks: OMA site is under construction as of 10 September 2002.

WIPO 

The World Intellectual Property Organization, an 

agency of the United Nations, promotes the use and 

protection of intellectual property (IP). It administers 23 

international treaties dealing with different aspects of IP 

protection. There are two IP categories: i. Industrial 

property—patents, trademarks, etc.. ii. Copyright—

novels, poems, films, music, drawings, photographs, 

sculptures, architectural designs, etc. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances: 179 Member States 

Other liaisons—170 NGO Observers 

Membership: only States may qualify 

See: http://www.wipo.org/

Remarks: Budget is $434M p.a. Regarding DRM, the Web site states, 

“Under its Digital Agenda – a work program for the Organization over the 

coming years, WIPO is responding to the confluence of the Internet, digital 

technologies and the intellectual property system. The Organization is 

formulating, through international discussions and negotiations, 

appropriate responses that will encourage dissemination and use of 

intellectual property such as music, films, trade identifiers and knowledge 

on the Internet, as well as ensure protection of the rights of their creators 

and owners.” 

WISA See entry OASIS WISA TC.

WMF 

The Wireless Multimedia Forum claims (or claimed?) to 

be an international, multi-vendor venue for those 

developing products, services and information for rich 

media content for mobile, wireless devices. 

Liaisons—See entries for 3GPP2, ISMA 

Membership: Approximately 35(?) hardware vendors, software makers, 

carriers and content developers. 

Requirements: Working Group interested in market requirements for 

DRM services. 

WS-I 

Web Services Interoperability, WS-I, is an industry 

initiative to accelerate development and deployment of 

interoperable Web services across a variety of 

platforms, applications, and programming languages. 

See: http://www.ws-i.org/

Membership: Founders include Accenture, BEA Systems, Fujitsu Ltd., 

Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP AG. 

Remarks: “The mission of WS-I will be to provide implementation 

guidance to support customers deploying Web services, promote consistent 

and reliable interoperability among Web services, and articulate a common 

industry vision for Web services.” [from the WS-I Web site]

XACML See: entry for OASIS XACML. 

XBRL 

The eXtensible Business Reporting Language is an open 

specification that uses XML-based data tags to describe 

financial statements: XBRL encoded financial 

information works across automated supply chains. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

The natural constituency is the financial community, but this crosses over 

into DRM territory. 

See: www.xbrl.org, www.rixml.org

Remarks: XBRL can be seen as a possible contribution to the reporting 

and managing aspect of DRM related to finance. Other XML dialects may 

enter in as well, e.g. for investor research, there is RIXML and IRML (the 

latter stressing conversational use). NewsML, a news data markup 

specification, is similarly related. 

XKMS 

The XML Key Management Specification defines 

protocols for distributing and registering public keys 

that are compatible with the XML Signature (XMLSIG) standard work of W3C and IETF and another 

anticipated standard for XML encryption. 

Support: W3C, IETF are doing this 

Other liaisons— IRTF, OASIS (XML) 

See: http://www.w3.org/2001/XKMS/

Remarks: DRM will use encryption technology, especially that related to 

XML. See IETF entry.
Page 14 of 14 October 9, 2002 

XMCL 

The eXtensible Media Commerce Language is an open, 

XML variant for industry-wide standards in Internet 

(multi) media commerce. XMCL may simplify 

deployment and enlarge the market for digital media 

over the Internet. 

DRM standards: XMCL Web site states: “RealNetworks intends to 

submit the XMCL proposal to the appropriate standards organization, and 

will work with other industry leaders to ensure the initiative evolves into a 

widely accepted standard.” 

Membership: Abril Group, Accenture, Adobe Systems, Anystream, 

America Online, Artesia Technologies, Avid Technology, Bertelsmann, 

British Telecom's BTopenworld, Clear Channel, Context Media, EMI 

Recorded Music, eMotion, IBM, IFILM, InterTrust, MGM, Napster, 

RealNetworks, Rightsline, Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment, Starz 

Encore Group, Sun Microsystems, Tiscali, Viant, and Virage

See: http://www.xmcl.org/

Remarks: XMCL standardizes the expression of business rules, and thus, 

enables content management independent of DRM (IPMP) and host ecommerce infrastructure.

XML 

The eXtensible Markup Language XML is actually a 

markup language to create other markup languages (and 

there have been a lot of them thusly crafted). XML is 

extensible, license-free, platform-independent and wellsupported. Its prolixity is usually redeemed by its wide 

acceptance and flexibility.

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Widespread coordinations: E.g., go to the xml site below and click on 

“XML in Industry.” 

Membership: NA 

See: http://www.xml.org/

Remarks: XML is widely used in recent e-commerce designs because 

structured and labeled data is necessary for the flexible, open-ended 

automation of information services. Related entries are 

“X-series” XBRL, XMCL, etc. (see pointers by RIXML, IRML and 

NewsML). DRM issues at http://xml.coverpages.org/drm.html 

XrML 

EXtensible rights Markup Language— XrML— is an 

XML-based vehicle for digital rights management. It 

aims at providing a universal method for specifying 

rights and conditions associated with the use and 

protection of digital content and services. XrML 

promotes the creation of open architectures for digital 

rights management. The developer has confirmed it has 

submitted XrML to OASIS for long- term development 

and governance (see OASIS RLTC above). 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances—a number of large commercial entities support XrML 

(see XrML Web site). 

Other liaisons— OASIS, MPEG-21 

Membership: NA 

See: http://www.xrml.org/

Remarks: See entry for ODRL, above. XrML’s specification has been 

submitted to both OASIS and MPEG-21. Discussion at 

www.xml.org/xml/zapthink/std263.html indicates differences between 

XrML and PRISM, the latter addressing a much-simplified problem.

XTM Topic Maps 

XML Topic Maps presents ISO Topic Maps in XML. 

Handles “topics” and their occurrences and 

associations. Because not all e-text subjects are 

electronic artifacts, an address must be provided for 

such a subject, e.g. “George III.” An electronic 

surrogate for the subject is constructed, which (being 

electronic) can have an address. This surrogate is a 

topic. Every topic acts as an e-link for some subject. 

DRM standards, coordinations, interests: 

Major alliances 

Other liaisons— 

Membership: TopicMaps.Org is an independent consortium of parties 

developing the applicability of the topic map paradigm [ISO13250] to the 

World Wide Web by leveraging the XML family of specifications

See: http://www.topicmaps.org/xtm/1.0/

Remarks: PRISM uses controlled vocabularies to similar end. See 

www.topicmaps.org/xtm/1.0/#desc-intro for easy-to-read discussion, 

including section 2.1, “A Gentle Introduction to Topic Maps.”