I really like Brad Templeton’s ‘don’t pay button’ idea as well which is why I include it as a business model. His idea has also been around for a long time without going anywhere and I thought Rights Office would provide infrastructure to make it work.

I agree software is in a different league to books and music which is probably why GPL type licenses appear to be flourishing along side commercial uses.

The way I propose to implement ‘rights trade’ in the Rights Office system introduces subtle changes that could make consumers look beyond access. For example:

- Each consumer gets an individual license to a specific piece of content not a general license that is available to everyone such as GPL or Creative Commons. This increases the consumers sense of ownership; They own the book, can get it off their shelf at any time. The author / publisher can model ‘further plans’ by providing, say, a discount on a sequel to consumers who own the first. Consumers can demonstrate to the RIAA when they come knocking that they own their copy of the music.

Sure, there will always be many who will never buy (or can’t afford to buy) if they can help it (there are now) but if we shift the balance toward ‘positive’ ownership it might make all the difference.

Sorry if these comments are drifting slightly off-topic but I hope they provide thought for the broad ’social DRM’ picture.

If we’re talking about the costs of books, if print books went to the POD model and stopped print runs of 5k or more, half or more of which end up pulped (or covered in detergent in a bookstore’s dumpster), then production cost for print would go down, and that would trickle down to the consumer. It might not right away, but someone would realize they could sell more books if theirs costs less, and then it would be a gas war.

Talking about e-books, if I format our author’s stories myself, I can do it in Microsoft Reader, Mobipocket, HTML and plain text without any cost but time. However, it costs $30.00 for the software (and a sharper learning curve) to format for Palm and eReader. You’re not even allowed to do it yourself for Sony–it costs $300.00 there, iirc. if it’s being uploaded to a second or third party website in any of the formats I mentioned, many times you have to pay so that they will format it, even if you believe you would do a better job than they would. It’s not a big fee, but it adds up, plus they get a very good portion of the profits. If you upload it to mobipocket, for instance, you’re required to add the DRM, even if you don’t want it, and they take the same chunk.

I think micro-refunds would benefit few. They sound like rebates. No one really wants to pay full price and then get some money back later. Whatever the reality, no one feels like they’ve made a bargain.

I also think that people would do about the same or less content sharing if they were paid to do so. How many reader blogs are also Amazon affiliates? It taints them. Their impartiality is suspect. No one knows if they really love the book or if they just want to get the kickback. That’s why journals like Consumer Reports (and if it’s not that one it’s one like it) refuse paid advertising.

In addition, considering the idea of community, I ran across a reader blog the other day where a commenter said they didn’t want to feel like they were in a community with the author; that it always felt like an artificial way to build sales. I think that commenter is in the minority, and I think it has to do with whether or not the way the community is built feels genuine.

“Trading rights” works in the enterprise software world where software is dual-licensed GPL and commercial. A company would not risk not having the rights… therefore commercial licenses will be purchased even though the tangible part, the software, the source code is already in their possession.

However, I don’t see how it will work with music or ebook downloads where
- the consumers are individuals who don’t have to be “afraid” of law enforcement (something the RIAA is trying to change )
- the consumers have no further plans other than to access the content

The ideas that I found rather interesting are:

micro-refunds:
Some kind of multi-level or associate marketing where people would be endorsed to spread the content and they would make money on sales.
Don’t Pay Button

I have had a paper, based on what you are reading, accepted for the Virtual Goods conference in Koblenz, Germany, in October. I’m hoping that will generate some discussion with people in the field.

I have been at this for a long time (in my spare time) now, for eight / ten years maybe. I thought I had an idea and I thought if I told people about it someone would pick up on it. Despite a few good supporters and a few articles published I guess it doesn’t work like this. Or it is not a good idea and no one is prepared to come out and say so and back it up with reasons (just saying, ‘It won’t work’ doesn’t stop me thinking ‘why not’).

In hindsight, I should have spent my time developing the system and not talking about it. That is what I am doing now but it is probably going to take another 10 years. Suggestion on how to proceed are also welcome.

This is probably relevant for social DRM. It needs a champion (David? who is going to push it into reality ASAP and see how it works.

Nicholas Bentley,

I’m reading your article, very interesting indeed.
I found your website at commonrights.com… it’s been around for a while. I’m wondering what’s your experience with putting the idea of the “Rights Office” into practice?

“but I have mixed feelings because of the potential conflict of interest, even if it’s small. I definitely would not like large rewards for book mentions.”

A very good point and of course any reviewer would have to consider how they play this. I imagine even today well known reviewers have to be careful of their impartiality and not accept gifts from publishers etc.

Having said that there is a subtle change in prospective under the Rights Office system which might or might not be reproducable under social DRM: Because of the freedom of identified copies in the RO system a reviewer who BOUGHT rights to her own copy and then went on to review it could then pass on a copy to anyone who read the review. The recipients are free to read the book as well as the review and decide weather the book is worth buying.

Of course you ask, why would anyone buy the book if they already have it in their hands to read? I believe their are a number of reasons:

- If the consumer throws down the book after the first chapter because they think it is rubbish they probably won’t buy it and they will be justified in this action and not obliged or expected to pay.

- If you enjoy reading the book many people would be happy to reward the author in the hope of more good books to come if nothing else. This will be more so the case if they also know they don’t have to buy books they don’t like. and more so the case if the price is reasonable. (As Tamas said: ‘especially if prices would drop to a point where it’s just not worth your time to bother with searching for a “free” download.’)

- Another small positive incentive here in the chain of contributions [1] is that the consumer would know they are also rewarding the reviewer for her good work as well.

- Buying the book will put it on the consumers ‘virtual book shelf’ guaranteeing permanent instant access in the future when they want to dip into it. There is a moral point here as well; they can demonstrate their support for the artist.

- Buying the book will give them the right to share it (lend) with their friends.

Best, Nicholas

[1] http://preview.tinyurl.com/32tcv9

On the page mentioned, you write: “If a consumer persuades a friend to buy a copy the original consumer could obtain a small referral refund. On a larger scale, imagine a reviewer who attracted a large consumer following. If she attracts a wide audience for a new work she could potentially earn more than just a refund on the original purchase price.”

In evaluating or designing the referral model, it’s helpful to consider various possible complications. For example, as someone who reviews e-book-related products, including some books on occasion, I don’t want major money for sales generated. I may well add an Amazon link to the TeleBlog at some point, since I mention so many P versions of books and could use the money, but I have mixed feelings because of the potential conflict of interest, even if it’s small. I definitely would not like large rewards for book mentions. Totally inappropriate. The Amazon links, of course, bring in some cash even with negative mentions. Still…

I hope that’s helpful, Nicholas.

Thanks,
David

I like some of the ideas here for social DRM but, of course, I would like to go all the way and introduce the Rights Office system for regulating content in a socially acceptable way without the need for any technical control of the contnet. I will just try and compare some of the common features:

1) Rights Office (RO) uses unique identifiers to identify the content but unlike social DRM these identifiers are opaque and so don’t contain any personal information.

2) Under RO, like social DRM, you truly own the content - forever.

3) Reading the content would not depend on a particular piece of technology (eBook).

4) Any number of copies can be made to provide access for the owner.

5) “The process would be probably be less complex than existing DRM systems.” - especially for the consumer under the RO scheme and probably this is also true for social DRM.

6) Still can’t figure out operational costs for either system.

7) “What should e-book publishers do to augment the technology with the proper social environment to discouraging mass piracy?” I have listed a number of dynamic features (business practices) that could be used to enhance the social environment for the RO here [http://preview.tinyurl.com/3485p9] and I think many of these could be used for social DRM.

RO provides “digital proof of purchase.” as mentioned by Tamas Simon.

9) “My own theory, however, is that the social details may count even more.” This is the RO view as well.

I don’t think so. I think it’s quite the opposite.
First, these audits would be quite unlikely to happen.
Think about it… you cannot “enforce” this for all the people who are readers.
Second, if for some reason there is an issue where you have to come clear it would be very easy for you to prove that your purchases are legit.

These certificates could be bundled into the ebook file - for example if it used the IDPF container format. It would be just another file in the zip.

I think you are right about the “read and delete”… that’s a challenge

And that’s not even touching on my feelings about having my hard drive audited - I’ve been overdoing my posting on here today because we had a customer quality audit this morning and I decided to kickback this afternoon because it went so well - which is effectively treating everyone like a criminal until they prove they aren’t.

“convenience of use” as you say can be the greates factor, especially if prices would drop to a point where it’s just not worth your time to bother with searching for a “free” download.

One thing that could work technically - though I’m not sure it would help - is a digital proof of purchase.
This would be a digital certificate - much like the ones used by banks for their secure websites - with a content certifying something like
“Reader Joe Average puchased Edition 1 of the book: My First Novel By X.Y”
Think about buying a physical book. You can pickit up in the bookstore but if you try to walk out the door the security guy may stop you and ask for the receipt (proof of purchase).
The question remains: In the case of ebooks where is this “door with the security guy” ?

It could be built into reading software or devices - which probably would not work on the long run.

People could be audited - at least in theory or by low enforcement.
So if a person downloads a lot of pirated ebooks and the RIAA of publishers finds out police can confiscate the hard drive and check for these certificates. If they’re missing… the guys in trouble.

I think the solution is a non-disturbing combination of these technical tricks and more importantly a working incentive scheme.

The challenge of digital content is not to prevent the content from being spread or given to someone, it is to get that person to make a purchase after he received the content.