Various approaches have been proposed to stimulate the digital marketplace. They are based on the simple idea that digital works can be bought and sold among trusted systems, and rights and specifications can be attached to those works. A mature eContent marketplace requires a standard language that creates trusted systems to protect rights and enforce terms and conditions so digital works can be authored and sold, then played or viewed on a wide variety of platforms. The rules interpreted by computers must be totally objective and consistent to enforce digital contracts. When asked to perform an operation not licensed by a work's specific terms and conditions, a trusted system refuses to carry it out.
Enforcement is embedded in digital media and is automatic.
Trusted systems rely on two basic principles . Terms and conditions governing the authorized use of a digital work can be expressed in a computer-interpretable language. And computers and software can be designed to enforce them. But a trusted system must resist physical tampering, detect misinformation from other digital systems, persistently reinforce terms and conditions, and resist unauthorized modifications. They then assign rights and stipulate fees and access conditions governing the exercise of each specific right.