Cryptographic Containers and the Digital Library

Abstract

Today, information is distributed on the Internet and other communication infrastructures mainly for free. However, once information or digital contents is assigned some value, a means is needed to protect its copyrights and control its use.

In this paper we describe an approach for rights management in the digital library. A digital library is a huge repository of digital content which is offered to the community of its users. The first step to control the use of its content is encryption. Encrypted content is not usable unless the decrypting or unlocking keys are acquired. The management of all keys involved in content transactions and their appropriate use is the task of rights management.

After a short introduction into issues of electronic publishing we present in section 2 the cryptolope^{TM 1} technology as a container for both encrypted content and information to purchase the content which serves as the basis for rights management. The second section will introduce the structure of cryptolopes and the procedures to use them. In the third section we will present the results of a digital library pilot project for rights management using cryptolope-like technology. The fourth section gives an outlook on advanced cryptolope transactions. We conclude the paper with a summary in section 5.