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Key Concepts

OpenIPMP should not be viewed as a typical DRM system, but rather as a content management and distribution framework for securing digital assets. In order to protect digital assets, it is critical to protect the content with encryption technology, however encryption technology alone is not enough. User and Content must be identifiable and communication between client and server tools must be secure and tamper resistant. Some of the biggest challenges related to building a content distribution framework lie not with encrypting the files alone, but with using encryption in conjunction with reliable mechanisms for uniquely identifying users and content. These concepts are fundamental to effectively securing media assets and managing access to those assets:

User Management - The OpenIPMP User Management infrastructure serves as the cornerstone of the system's security framework. In order to manage rights and enforce role based rules and permissions, the framework needs to be able to uniquely identify every user of the system. OpenIPMP issues each user a Digital Certificate (or Digital Id) when they register with the system. This Digital Id, which is issued and signed by the OpenIPMP Certificate Authority, is a standards-based electronic file that uniquely identifies the user to the system and indicates to which group(s) the user belongs. It also enables secure, confidential communications with the OpenIPMP server components helping to ensure that sensitive data is not compromised during transit.

Content Identification and Management - While there are many challenges associated with making the transition from the realm of physical media assets to digital media assets, the importance of uniquely identifying content remains constant in both realms. Just as a Compact Disc album or a DVD movie are identifiable by their UPC Codes, a digital version (or instance) of a media asset must be easily discernable. OpenIPMP implements one of the leading MPEG-21 proposed content identification schemes to solve the challenge of uniquely identifying digital assets. It is suggested that content be put under the management of the framework during or immediately after creation so that the asset can be identified, managed, and tracked throughout its life cycle.

Rights Management - Managing rights related to digital media assets encompasses the ability to issue, validate, authenticate and revoke permissions to a given asset(s) in a networked environment. OpenIPMP has a robust permission and constraint model that allows content owners the ability to issue rights that can be governed by constraints ranging from simple to complex. The system supports a leading Rights Expression Language (REL) that has been proposed to MPEG-21 and that has also been selected by leading technology consortiums such as the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA).