Re: CLOCKSS book content preservation wg

Dear Alicia & all, 

> DRM protection must be removed from EPUB publications by the publisher prior to deposit into an archive

This sentence is problematic: publishers don't apply a DRM: this is detailed in the rationale document, below the sentence. A sentence like "EPUB publications should not be deposited in an archive with a DRM or watermark protection" would be imho much better.

> •       LCP, an open protocol for DRM has not be as widely adopted as had been hoped. There therefore isn’t in practice one standard open DRM for EPUBs.

EDRLab strongly opposes to such a remark in this document (even if perceived as informal), as it has no objective basis and is false. LCP *is* widely adopted (and its adoption is accelerating). The LCP specification will soon be the *only* DRM being an international standard (it is currently a ISO TS = Technical Specification, the move to IS = International Standard is underway). 

I would be okay with something like: "Any DRM, even specified as an international standard like Readium LCP, contains some proprietary and secret code. Decryption is only possible if this proprietary code is integrated into reading software, which complexifies the long-term preservation of EPUB files."


> Encryption and obfuscation of EPUBs are also problematic from a preservation perspective.


Warning: fonts are often obfuscated in EPUBs. This is not a practical hindrance to the preservation of ebooks because the de-obfuscation code is public. Publishers should not be required to make the additional step of suppressing font obfuscation prior to preservation.

Best regards
Laurent LE MEUR
EDRLab




> 
>> On Sep 11, 2023, at 11:21 AM, Siegman, Tzviya <tsiegman@wiley.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Here is the draft Rationale for EPUB/A. Please feel free to offer feedback.
>>  Tzviya
>>  Tzviya Siegman
>> Information Standards Principal
>> Wiley
>> 201-748-6884
>> tsiegman@wiley.com
>>  The contents of this email and any attachments are confidential and intended only for the person or entity to whom it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, review, distribution, reproduction or any action taken in reliance upon this message is strictly prohibited. If you received this message in error, please immediately notify the sender and permanently delete all copies of the email and any attachments.
>> Click here for translations of this disclaimer.<EPUBa rationale _ draft 3 clean.docx>
> 
>