August 2, 2004,Vol. 15, No. 8 ISSN 1346-5317

I. Outline of verification experiments

1. Background and purpose

¥ Along with development of infrastructure construction, includingwidespread deployment of fiber-optic networks and commencement of digitalbroadcasting, promotion of effective use of such infrastructures has becomeissues upon implementing the ICT strategies of the government.  Inaddition, the promotion of content distribution including expansion ofbroadband business is recognized as one of priority policy measures fromthe viewpoint of the government's intellectual property strategy.
¥ In response to such circumstances, there are expectations for smoothdistribution of video content including broadcast programming via broadbandnetworks.  To this end, facilitated rights management Note 1regarding copyrights, etc. has been highlighted as one of the issues involvingdistribution.
¥ Since FY2002, MPHPT has been conducting the "Verification Experimentson a Copyright Clearance System" over a three-year period in order to developi) a general-purpose metadata structure Note 2 for facilitatingrights management between content holders (broadcasters, etc.) and copyrightholders, and ii) a digital rights management system utilizing the general-purposemetadata structure.

Note 1: Since there are many people involved in production ofvideo content (e.g., scriptwriters, lyricists, composers, performers <musicians,singers, actors>, producers of materials, etc.), it is required to facilitaterights management for the secondary use (distribution on the Internet,etc.).  Currently, in many cases, negotiations and contracts are beingdone one by one via telephones, facsimiles, etc.
Note 2: Metadata: Attribute information concerning content. In the case of broadcast programming, metadata include information on eachprogram, such as title, content, scene conposition, broadcasting time,etc., and information on each right, such as names of copyright holders,contact points on application for use, and usage conditions, etc.

¥ To deliberate upon and develop the "general-purpose metadatastructure" for facilitated exchange of metadata among stakeholders relatedto rights management
¥ To verify effectiveness of an online rights management system utilizingthe general-purpose metadata structure for enhancing the accuracy and speedinvolving rights management as regards the secondary use of content

¥ Upon implementation of verification experiments, in collaborationwith the "Study Group on Copyright Clearance for Network Distribution ofBroadcast Content" (Chair: Mr. SHIRAI Futoshi, President of the Foundationfor MultiMedia Communications), set up in February 2002 (hereinafter referredto as the "Study Group on Copyright Clearance"), MPHPT has been promotingthe verification experiments in cooperation with broadcasters, copyright-holderorganizations, programming production companies and so on.

II. Outputs

1. Deliberations upon and development of the metadata structure contributingto facilitation of rights management

(1) Development of the general-purpose metadata structure

¥ It is vital to mutually and efficiently exchange metadataamong stakeholders involved in B2B content distribution/transactions, includingcopyright holder organizations, content holders and content distributors,for facilitating rights management.  To this end, it is essentialto construct a mechanism for ensuring compatibility of metadata used byeach stakeholder.
¥ MPHPT considered metadata item groups for common use among stakeholdersas a mechanism for ensuring metadata compatibility, subsequently set forththe general-purpose metadata structure functioning as a "common languageof metadata" in FY2002, and released the general-purpose metadata structureat a press conference held on May 20, 2003.
¥ MPHPT refined the general-purpose metadata structure in FY2003 andreported the results to the Study Group on Copyright Clearance.
¥ It can be said that the general-purpose metadata structure is a kindof a dictionary.  Even between different metadata structures, wheninterfaces with this general-purpose metadata structure are established,efficient metadata exchanges would be enabled.

¥ Major features of the metadata structure developed at this time areas follows:

- This metadata structure includes many metadata items meetinga variety of usage/transaction modes for use of broadcasting, the Internet,etc.
- Mutual exchanges with major existing metadata structures in the world,including P/Meta Note 3 and TV-Anytime Forum Note 4, aretaken into consideration.

Note 3: P/Meta: The Project Group of the European Broadcasting Union(EBU) for standardization of a metadata structure
Note 4: TV-Anytime Forum: An international private-sector standardizationorganization addressing standardization of metadata specifications forthe purpose of realizing new multimedia services through the use of storagefunction, the interaction of communication and broadcasting

(2) Development of profiles

¥ Since the general-purpose metadata structure is a kind ofa dictionary of metadata items, it is necessary to select adequate itemsaccording to actual usages.  "Profiles" are excerpts of items fromthe general-purpose metadata structure, necessary for actual usages, andmake the metadata structure consisting of many items available for efficientuse.
¥ In FY2003, with respect to applications/approvals for use betweencopyright-holders and content holders, and contracts for use between contentholders and content distributors, "profiles" were developed.
¥ Upon development of the "profiles," practical profiles were developedby i) analyzing actual business practices and content information databaseitems, etc. and ii) extracting requirements.

(1) Verification of the general-purpose metadata structure,etc.

¥ By simulating a flow of content distribution process includingapplications/approvals for use, contracts for use, reports on actual deliveries/utilizations,verifications of the general-purpose metadata structure and metadata exchangesutilizing profiles were carried out on the experiment system.

[Major points]
¥ Acquisition of information on copyright-holders by content holders(broadcasters)

- Correctness and swiftness were verified through trials thatupon generating metadata, content holders could obtain information on copyright-holderspertaining to content from copyright-holders' databases online.

¥ Confirmation of professional affiliation of copyright-holders and applications/approvalsfor use

- Efficiency and effectiveness of rights management systemsutilizing metadata were verified through trials on confirmation of professionalaffiliation of copyright-holders and applications/approvals for use.

III. Deployment, etc. of results

¥ Based upon these results, at the Study Group on Rights Clearanceheld by the Foundation for MultiMedia Communications (FMMC), the metadatastructure J/Meta2.0 Note 5 was developed.
¥ Henceforth, through promotion of utilization, etc. of the metadatastructure among stakeholders, etc., it is expected that i) the efficiencyof content metadata exchanges will be improved; and ii) the secondary useof broadcast programming, etc. and distribution of broadband content willbe promoted.
¥ In FY2004, as the final fiscal year of the three-year experiments,i) experiments, etc. for further refining the metadata structure and profileswill be carried out, and ii) the outputs of the three-year experimentswill be summarized.

Note 5: For details of J/Meta2.0, please refer to the website of theFMMC at:
http://www.fmmc.or.jp

Outputs: (1) Deliberations upon and development of the metadatastructure contributing to facilitation of rights management
¥ Examples of items for the general-purpose metadata structure "J/Meta2.0"

Major division	Minor division	Examples of items
¥ Metadata on content information (about 500 items)	¥ Index information for identifying content	¥ Content information on ID, title, casting, series number, etc.
¥ Metadata on content information (about 500 items)	¥ Detailed information on content	¥ Information on length (hours and minutes), story summaries, key words,locations
¥ Metadata on content information (about 500 items)	¥ Historical information on broadcasting	¥ Information on day and time aired for the first time, names of channels,broadcast flags, rates
¥ Metadata on content information (about 500 items)	¥ Genre information on content	¥ Genre codes (news, drama, etc.), classification of purposes (entertainment,education, etc.), target viewers (minors, general public, etc.)
¥ Metadata on content information (about 500 items)	¥ Information- on related content	¥ Names of related content, related ID codes (other versions, materials,etc.)
¥ Metadata on content information (about 500 items)	¥ Information on content exchange format	¥ Sampling rates of moving pictures, sound bit rates, resolutions
¥ Metadata on rights information (about 1,300 items)	¥ Information on copyright-holders of total content	¥ Names of copyright-holders, codes on types of copyright-holders (broadcastingstations, programming production companies, etc.), contact points
¥ Metadata on rights information (about 1,300 items)	¥ Information on entrusted agencies/organizations of copyrights fortotal content	¥ Names of agents for copyrights, codes on types of organizations (authorizedorganizations, associations, etc.), contact points
¥ Metadata on rights information (about 1,300 items)	¥ Basic information on approval for use of total content (terms andconditions for common approval for use of said content)	¥ Types of approved rights (rights to broadcast, rights to allow transmission,etc.), information on where to apply for approval, basic terms and conditionsfor approval (valid terms, addresses to deliver, etc.), contact points
¥ Metadata on rights information (about 1,300 items)	¥ Information on separate contracts pertaining to production/use ofcontent (on title holders, content distributors, etc.)	¥ Contract numbers, information on contractors, terms and conditions(contract amounts of money, days of reports on actual usage, etc.)
¥ Metadata on rights information (about 1,300 items)	¥ Information on actual use of music used in content	¥ Titles of music, numbers of CD, hours of music used

Outputs: (2) Verification of rights managementsystem utilizing metadata (2)
[Outline of rights management system]
¥ A verification experiment system was constructed which i) can interacta copyright-holder's information database as possessed by an assumptivecopyright-holder and a content information database as possessed by anassumptive content holder (broadcaster), and can process services relatedto rights management through functions for metadata input and managementand exchange.

[Outline of survey results]
(1) Incidents of information security breaches remained constant.
About 61% of listed companies suffered some kind of information securitybreaches over the past year. (See Fig. 1.)

By type of attacks, computer viruses/worms infected about 98% of listedcompanies.  This figure remained constant in comparison with the previoussurvey. (See Fig. 2.)

(2) Slightly increased firewalls
About 89% of listed companies have introduced firewalls (hardware,including servers, appliance equipment) for preventing illegal access,showing an increase of two percentage points compared to about 87% in theprevious survey.
The ratio of listed companies introducing firewalls into clients throughsoftware, a newly surveyed item for the first time, is about 10%. (See Fig. 3.)

(3) Implementation status of security policy remains at a lowerlevel.
The ratio of listed companies already implementing a security policyis about 36%, up about seven percentage points compared to about 29% ofthe previous survey results, still remaining at a lower level.
As such, under the situation where security breaches including viralinfection, although security awareness has, in general, gradually beenheightened, countermeasures are still at a lower level.  (See Fig.4.)