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Web Posted on: December 7, 1998

SEDODEL: A solution to the copyright barrier to access to information

Dominique BURGER
INSERM
Creare U483, UPMC B23, 9 Quai St Bernard, F-75005 Paris
dburger@snv.jussieu.fr

Iain MILLNS
University of Bradford
Management Centre, Emm Lane, Bradford
West Yorkshire, UK-BD9 4JL
I.Millns@bradford.ac.uk

Emmanuel SCHWARZ
INSERM
Creare U483, UPMC B23, 9 Quai, St Bernard, F-75005 Paris
eschwarz@snv.jussieu.fr

Tom WESLEY
University of Bradford
Management Centre, Emm Lane, Bradford
West Yorkshire, UK-BD9 4JL
t.a.b.wesley@Bradford.ac.uk

1. Summary

This paper explains why problems associated with copyrights in electronic documents are a major hurdle to more widespread access to information for visually impaired people. It then describes the approach being taken by SEDODEL, Secure Document Delivery for Blind and Partially Sighted People, to surmount this hurdle.

2. Introduction

The SEDODEL (Secure Document Delivery for Blind and Partially Sighted People) project addresses the information needs of blind and partially sighted people, who have almost no access to the vast range of information the general population takes for granted [1]. Electronic information is the key to providing these people with the greatly increased access to information they need. However, it is difficult to obtain electronic information, for creating accessible documents in forms such as braille, large print, and synthetic speech, because authors and publishers realise how easily they can lose control of their intellectual property rights (particularly copyright). Electronic documents can be copied perfectly, modified at will and distributed world wide almost instantaneously! As Burger and Miesenburger argued [2], it is necessary to create a secure document delivery service to overcome this problem.

SEDODEL aims to create, verify, and demonstrate a pilot secure document delivery service, which will meet the information needs of blind and partially sighted people, and guarantee the rights and obligations of actors in the publishing chain. It will achieve this by integrating two key technologies: Electronic Copyright Management Systems (ECMS) and accessible electronic documents. SEDODEL will give publishers the confidence to distribute electronic copies of their publications to organisations of and for the blind and partially sighted, and to blind and partially sighted people directly. This paper explains the copyright problem, its affects on the Information Society, and the need for new European copyright legislation. It describes enabling technologies, such as the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), ECMS, and the World Wide Web (WWW). It also describes the features of SEDODEL.

3. Access to information

The key enabling technologies for increasing access to information for blind and partially sighted people are structured electronic documents, and the developing infrastructures of the Internet and WWW.

Electronic documents can be structured with markup languages, such as the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), the HyperText Markup Language (HTML), or the Extensible Markup Language (XML). These languages separate the structure of a document from its physical layout. Structured electronic documents can be transformed into accessible formats, such as braille, large print, or synthetic speech. The Internet and WWW are of great significance to blind and partially sighted people. For the first time, it is possible to have online access to global information by using cheap off-the-shelf components. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has recognised this significance, and created the important Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) [3]

4. Copyright and the Information Society

The issues of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and copyright are affecting the development of the Information Society, as a background document [4] on Electronic Commerce in the European Commissions' Information Technology Programme explains:

'The Internet is one gigantic copying machine. ... The revenue generated by Intellectual Property is threatened by this new environment. ... Besides threats on existing or emerging market applications, new innovative applications, likely to generate new markets, could be created if IPR owners were confident that their property is appropriately protected against piracy and misuse. Such novel applications will start to shape the economy of the future'.

5. The requirement for secure document delivery

Although the developing Information Society promises much for the visually impaired, its full realisation for them will not be possible without secure document delivery systems:

  • For electronically published information, the generally distributed forms may not be accessible, and are unlikely to be ideal for accessibility. More accessible formats will need to be delivered in a secure environment.
  • Most information under copyright protection, while produced electronically, is still published in traditional paper formats, inaccessible to the blind and partially sighted. Although the internal electronic formats are not intended by the publishers to be distributed, they would greatly increase the efficiency of producing specific accessible versions for blind and partially sighted people.
  • Organisations of and for the blind and partially sighted can often negotiate specific agreements with a publisher to make an accessible hard copy version for a particular group of people. Because of the copyright problem it is rarely possible to reach agreement when the version is electronic and certainly not when it is desired to make this available to other people, who might be anywhere in the world.
  • To gain the cooperation of those who own the information in the publishing chain for the use of electronic documents, a fully featured ECMS system will be necessary. Only such a system can provide the trusted environment for securing all the rights and obligations of all actors-including provision of payments.

6. Intellectual Property Rights Management

ECMS are used for the IPR management of electronic information. ECMS provide authors, publishers, and distributors of digital objects with tamper resistant mechanisms for identifying and tattooing copyrighted materials, and monitoring access to and usage of these materials in such a way that copyright holders can legitimately receive their royalties.

SEDODEL uses the CopySMART ECMS [5]. CopySMART's end user software is implemented on a standard Windows PC with a smart card reader. Individual users have their own smart cards, which contain identification and authentication of the user together with the use rights granted by the service provider.

7. The constraints of copyright legislation

SEDODEL recognises that a technology only approach is not sufficient to make real progress in the integration of visually impaired people in the information society. Therefore, in parallel with the development, evaluation and demonstration actions, SEDODEL will produce recommendations for changes in European copyright legislation which could mirror that of the law in the United States [6].

8. The needs of SEDODEL users

SEDODEL addresses the needs of three distinct sets of users: blind and partially sighted people, publishers, and organisations of and for the blind:

  • For blind and partially sighted people to be fully integrated into society they need access to the total range of written information that is available to the general population-but in a form that is appropriate, given their disability.
  • Publishers and all parts of the publishing chain need to be sure of reward and be confident that illicit copying and modification is not possible.
  • Providers of accessible materials for the blind and partially sighted will be able to provide a much more efficient service if information is easily available in standardised electronic forms from publishers, and if the copyright issues are automatically taken care of.

9. Features of SEDODEL

SEDODEL will pilot an innovative service for the distribution of information to blind and partially sighted people. This will be based on a set of generic applications created by the integration of existing and developing technologies. The system's main features are:

  • Electronic information will be transformed into accessible formats by converting into members of the SGML family.
  • The accessible information will be wrapped in a secure envelope by using the CopySMART ECMS system. This secure envelope can include digital identification such as tattooing to ensure ownership, data integrity and traceability together with encryption for privacy.
  • The contractual conditions relating to the information are bound together with this securely wrapped information. These conditions are specific for a particular information distribution service and are developed by creating a business model which covers the roles of actors in the service.
  • The securely wrapped accessible information is distributed to the end user. This may involve the mediation of organisations of and for the blind and partially sighted, or may be direct from producer or publisher. The technical mechanisms for information delivery are independent of the CopySMART application; possibilities include physical media (for example CD-ROM) or open networks such as Internet and the World Wide Web.
  • The information is accessed by the end user on a CopySMART enabled PC running Windows. The end user's access rights are encoded on a personal smart card which the application reads and interprets. The application unwraps the information and allows the user to access the information only in accordance with the specific user rights.
  • The SGML based information will be accessed by a Document Reader developed for the SEDODEL system. This will enable visually impaired users to read information in an easy manner using their own access technology such as screen readers, braille displays and large print systems.
  • Usage of the information will be monitored by the CopySMART application which deals with access control, clearing of rights, traceability, audit files, proofs of usage and handling of payments.

10. The SEDODEL pilot

The SEDODEL Project pilot implementation can be summarised in three stages:

  • Environment set up: considers the tasks to be completed before End Users can use the system.
  • Verification: considers how well the system meets the needs of the three user groups.
  • Demonstration: considers how the system works in a wider environment.

The environment set up concerns the procedures that will be implemented to create a pilot SEDODEL system for validation. Verification will consist of system testing by experienced computer users. The wider demonstration stage will be used to further develop some aspects of the system.

The SEDODEL Project pilot will concentrate on on-line delivery using the Internet of predominately text-based books with payment being made by pre-paid credits on the End User's smart card. Initial payment will be off-line with payment for additional credits being made off-line with on-line updating of smart cards.

11. The DAISY Consortium

The DAISY Consortium [7] founded in 1996 now has some twenty four members, who are organisations of and for the blind and partially sighted, from nineteen different countries in four continents. DAISY is developing the next generation of hybrid digital talking books and in so doing they are likely to produce the most advanced mechanisms for creating, delivering and using accessible versions of information. Furthermore, given the membership of DAISY and the financial commitments being made, it is likely that these technologies will be exploited by the organisations as major ways of meeting their strategic goals.

It is implicit in the DAISY developments that the products could, and should, be used for the delivery of copyright material. However, there is no indication at present that any technical development work is being carried out by DAISY in the field of secure document delivery. The SEDODEL project is therefore of considerable importance, in that it could become one of the ways in which the aims of DAISY could be realised by providing the security mechanisms for the practical delivery of copyright documents in accessible forms.

12. Conclusion

The anticipated results of SEDODEL are: the implementation and operation of a secure document delivery service for blind and partially sighted people, the extension of CopySMART to the needs of blind and partially sighted people, and recommendations for changes in European copyright legislation. The secure service should give publishers the confidence to release to organisations of and for the blind and partially sighted (and to blind and partially sighted people directly) electronic copies of their publications, thereby greatly enhancing access to information.

Acknowledgement

SEDODEL, Project DE4001, is part funded by DGXIII of the European Commission under the Disabled and Elderly Sector of the Telematics Applications Programme.

Literature

[1] The members of the SEDODEL Consortium are: University of Bradford, Coordinator (United Kingdom), British Library (United Kingdom), EURITIS SA (France), INSERM (France), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium), Open University (United Kingdom), Royal National Institute for the Blind (United Kingdom). The two year project will complete in March 2000. Up to date information can be found on the SEDODEL Web site at: http://www.arttic.com/projects/SEDODEL/

[2] Burger F., Miesenburger K. (1996). Secure Distribution System for Publications in Electronic Form - Architecture of a system to provide access to publications for visually impaired readers while guaranteeing the rights to authors and publishers. In: Interdisciplinary Aspects on Computers Helping People with Special Needs, 5th International Conference, ICCHP '96, Linz, Austria, 16-19 July 1996, Schriftenreihe der Österreichischen Computer Gesellschaft, Band 87, Oldenbourg, Wien, ISBN 3-7029-0413-1

[3] Web Accessibility Initiative URL: http://www.w3.org/WAI/

[4] Electronic Commerce Issues: Intellectual Property Rights, Dominique Gonthier URL: http://www.ispo.cec.be/ecommerce/ipr.htm

[5] CopySMART: ESPRIT Project 20517. URL:

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