A Philosophy of Creators' Rights:
By providing a set of modules and an architectural philosophy for generating RDF/RSS descriptions incorporating the Dublin Core and the extensible Creative Commons licenses, Authena seeks to marry a full spectrum of rights definitions to Open Source CMS. A second set of modules capable of reading RSS feeds and retrieving rights descriptions and content via a REST protocol will enable syndicated content distribution across a network of CMS. Modules capable of generating RDF rights descriptions and embedding them in media and RSS feeds allow media shops, galleries, and content repositories to syndicate media via a REST protocol. Individual creators, businesses, and institutions hosting content in Open Source CMS can syndicate it to OSS repositories or marketplaces endowed with transaction and royalty-tracking capabilities. Repositories and marketplaces can in turn syndicate their content to yet other markets and repositories while preserving rights descriptions and recording transactions, affording a decentralized distribution model that binds the rights description to the actual medium of syndication. Whereas RSS is generally used for syndicating newsfeeds, Authena uses RSS to syndicate rights information and links to digital media in different formats, including thumbnailed, watermarked, and high-quality originals in secure directories, so as to facilitate the indexing, harvesting, and selling of content on the semantic web in accordance with rights defined by the creator.

Early Authena Manifestations:
CMS such as Postnuke, Phpnuke, Netjuke, and Gallery are being enhanced with Authena client modules. The Dublin Core and the CC Licenses have been integrated into the Open Source Gallery project at http://pnavy.com/dcgallery. OSS with transaction capabilities, such as Oscommerce, are being enhanced with early Authena digital media modules--an early rendition for images may be found at http://vvgallery.org/. OS news aggregators, such as Amphetadesk and Aggie, may be modified to become rights description and content aggregators.

The Authena Spirit: A Philosophy of Creators' Rights

The only place the word "right" appears in the United States Constitution is in the following passage:

The Congress shall have Power To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

Authena's philosophy is to leverage Open Source CMS technologies along with rights languages to afford creators the full spectrum of their inherent rights.

Authena Fundamentals:
1. Creators will be free to designate hosts and marketplaces for their content. No contracts need be signed with corporate conglomerates to facilitate basic rights management and global distribution.

2. Creators will be afforded a full spectrum of rights options via the extensible Creative Commons licenses.

3. Authena client and server modules will remain open and free, in accordance with the GPL license.

4. RDF/RSS feeds will contain digital rights descriptions within the framework of the extensible CC License and Dublin Core schemas.

5. Three fundamental types of media formats--thumbnailed, watermarked, and pristine original--will be described in the RDF/RSS feed, which may employ an Authena schema in addition to the Dublin Core and CC License schemas.

6. Pristine originals of media may be encrypted or stored within a password-protected directory, should the creator's chosen license necessitate this.

7. Web services employed by Authena will be based on simple paradigms, implying the use of REST, which also offers strong support for the semantic web.

8. A robust ratings system will be built into Authena clients and servers, which will allow for the ranking of content as well as the repositories and marketplaces. These rankings will be made available within the RSS feeds. Rankings facilitated by trusted sources will be given more credibility, so as to discourage ballot-stuffing.

9. Security and encryption, when needed by the creator's chosen license, will be provided by open source technologies including SSL and PGP.

10. Authena will use simple protocols based on open standards.

Authena Scenarios
1. Photography: Jenny wishes to create a portfolio of photographs taken during her summer trip to Wyoming, and perhaps sell some. With a few mouseclicks, she launches a photo gallery powered by the Open Source gallery project at pnavy.com. She uploads her pictures and enters the rights information, releasing a few pictures under Creative Commons licenses. A client-side Authena module at pnavy.com watermarks the pictures and embeds RDF license descriptions in the media using EXIF. The Authena module also generates an RSS feed containing the rights descriptions and locations of the images. Jenny then opens accounts at stock photography shops including westgallery.com and wyominggallery.com, both powered by Oscommerce with photography and Authena modules (vvgallery.org), and syndicates her pictures to the stock photography marketplaces. A server-side Authena module at wyominggallery.com reads the RSS feed residing on the same server as Jenny's portfolio, and using her Authena password she entered when registering, wyominggallery.com transfers and logs rights information, thumbnails, watermarked versions, and the pristine originals via a REST protocol over https. The originals distributed under the CC license are kept in a public directory, while the proprietary originals are encrypted and/or kept within a password-protected directory. A greeting card company in Ireland browses thumbnailed and watermarked versions of the pictures at wyominggallery.com, and after using a couple of Jenny's public domain photographs, they purchase publishing rights to her proprietary photographs, and download a zipped package of high-resolution originals off the wyominggallery.com server. Jenny is compensated accordingly by wyominggallery.com.

CMS Client Hosting Jenny's Pictures: Gallery/Postnuke/Phpnuke with Authena Modules
CMS Server Selling Jenny's Pictures: Oscommerce with photography and Authena modules (VVGallery)

2. Music: The Tain Collins Band records their first CD. With a few mouseclicks at bandnuke.net, they launch a postnuke-powered website devoted to their CD, making three songs available for download with the CC licenses. An Authena module generates the RDF/RSS rights description for the entire album. An Authena spider from freestreaming.com parses the rights information, and grabs the mp3s released under the CC licenses, preserving the Attribute license. The Tain Collins Band registers for accounts at cdworld.com and streamingbands.com to syndicate their CD's content, providing the sites with their Authena password. Authena modules at cdworld.com and streamingbands.com look back at the RSS feed at the Tain Collins website, and the digital content and rights are transferred and logged via a REST protocol over https. Thumbnails (10 second song clips), watermarked (songs with irregularities or lower audio quality), and the pristine originals, stored in the password-protected Authena directory, are transferred. People can buy physical CD's from cdworld.com (oscommerce powered), or they can subscribe to access streamed music from streamingbands.com (netjuke powered). Both cdworld.com and streamingbands.com compensate The Tain Collins Band in proportion to how often the music is listened to via streaming media or ordered via physical copies of the CD.

CMS Client Hosting Tain's Music: Postnuke/PhpNuke with Zina & Authena modules
CMS Server Selling Tain's Music: Netjuke/Oscommerce with Authena modules

3. Books: Kelly has written a book about windsurfing. With a few mouseclicks at surf.net she launches a Phpnuke portal devoted to her passion. She makes the first chapter of her book available for download off her site, releasing it with a CC license which is manifested in the RSS feed. She syndicates the entire book to niche CMS marketplaces including allsports.com and booksondemand.com. The digital files are transferred and logged via a REST protocol over https. David comes across Kelly's site, and after reading the first chapter, he wants a hard copy. He follows the link to booksondemand.com and finding another book on windsurfing, he decides he wants them both. Booksondemand.com lets David combine the two files into one book, which he orders and receives at a local Kinkos with a print-on-demand press.

CMS Client Hosting Kelly's Book: Postnuke/Phpnuke/Xoops with Authena Modules
CMS Server Selling Kelly's Book: Oscommerce/VVGallery with Authena and book-publishing modules

4. Film/Educational Repositories: Greg shoots a documentary pertaining to peoples' favorite great books. He creates a personal CMS portal at filmgallery.com/greg and uploads mpegs of his work. He releases it all under the Creative Commons Attribute license. The UCLA film school finds his technique amazing, and they add his work to their repository. This will bring some renown to Greg, so he's psyched. And because the Authena modules are already installed in Greg's Gallery, and the UCLA film school has an Authena-empowered repository at uclafilm.org, all they have to do is point it at the RDF/RSS feed at Greg's site. The UCLA Authena server modules read the CC licenses in the RSS feed on Greg's site, and seeing that they grant permissions to use the files as long as they cite Greg, the Authena module ports the film clips into UCLA's repository, preserving the CC licenses.

CMS Client Hosting Greg's Film: Gallery/Posnuke/Phpnuke/Xoops with Authena
CMS Server Hosting UCLA Film Repository: Oscommerce/VVGallery with Authena or Netjuke with film modules and Authena

5. Corporate Repositories: Apple computer is creating a repository of all film created under a Creative Commons license. Having installed the Authena server modules, they employ google, searching for every site containing an authena.php file, which generates the RSS/RDF feed. They scan the RSS feeds, checking the Dublin Core "dc:format" tag for avi's and mpeg movie formats, and the cc:license tag for appropriate rights. Finding Greg's movies at the UCLA film repository, and ascertaining the CC licenses allow their use in the given context, the UCLA Authena modules upload the digital files into their own repositories, maintaining the digital rights descriptions.

CMS Client Hosting Greg's Film at UCLA: Oscommerce/VVGallery with Authena
CMS Server Hosting Greg's Film at UCLA: Oscommerce/VVGallery with Authena

6. Gaming:
Independent game developers post their mods and original graphics on their own Postnuke sites at gamernuke.com. Many of them release their early work under CC licenses, to gain publicity. Opensourcegamer.org continually scans the RSS Authena feeds at gamernuke.com and several other gaming communities, downloading all the new mods and graphics released under CC licenses, so as to become a repository for public domain mods.

CMS Client at gamernuke.com: Postnuke with Authena modules
CMS Server at opensourcegamer.org: Oscommerce with Authena modules

Syndicated Commerce & A Philosophy of Creators' Rights
Unlike physical property, digital media can exist in multiple places at once. This suggests that the digital marketplaces of the future will have copies of the pristine originals residing on their servers. A creator may easily syndicate their film, music, or book to several marketplaces. Thus the OSCMS model of content and commerce syndication, wherein the creator uploads their content onto their personal CMS, generates versions including thumbnailed, watermarked, and pristine originals within a secured Authena directory, and syndicates it to multiple marketplaces. The creator may choose multiple niche marketplaces for their content, as well as huge, general marketplaces, such as an Ebay or Amazon for content, or public domain repositories. Rather than having their content pass through a centralized corporate structure, their content is distributed via a network of markets.

Authena is starting out as "a philosophy of creators' rights" inspired by the Open Source CMS renaissance. Should working paradigms be adopted, they may become standards. Many entities are attempting to develop DRM standards from the top down, whereas standards may have a better chance being built from the ground up. Thus a good place to begin is with simple implementations which add useful functionality to Open Source CMS systems. If enough authors, artists, musicians, photographers, and creators find it useful, then certain aspects may become standards.

Based on the RDF specification, the Dublin Core, and the Creative Commons licenses, Authena will strive to afford a full spectrum of rights definitions. Authena will seek a new paradigm of syndicated commerce and a new mechanism for distribution, whereby creators host their content on an Open Source CMS such as Postnuke, and syndicate it to any number of trusted marketplaces and repositories based on other CMS or Open Source commerce systems such as Oscommerce.

About the Presenters:
Dr. Elliot McGucken founded "the world's classical portal" at Classicals & jollyroger.com in 1995. He teaches physics at UNC Chapel Hill and works with the Center for The Public Domain. He recently launched Vvgallery.org and Athuena.org which is developing "A Philosophy of Creator's Rights," based on the marriage of digital rights definitions and management to Open Source CMS. He received a Merrill Lynch Innovations Grant for research on an artificial retina, and he has published a novel and a poetry collection. He runs mobynuke.net and pnavy.com, which offer free hosting for Open Source CMS including Postnuke, phpBB, and gallery.

Blake Watters is an undergraduate at UNC Chapel Hill. He works for ibiblio.org, and after participating in many open source projects, he is now the lead project administrator and benevolent dictator for the netjuke.sourceforge.net project.