Re: CSS3 @font-face / EOT Fonts - new compromise proposal

Thanks H&kon,

On Nov 12, 2008, at 3:29 PM, Håkon Wium Lie <howcome@opera.com> wrote:

> Also sprach Brad Kemper:
>
>> Well, I guess that settles that then. Major foundries will only be
>> satisfied with solutions that have the UA enforcing their license
>> terms for them, something that implementors are not eagar to do. That
>> about sum it up?
>
> I hope not. In the past, major vendors have stated "we only need a
> simple mechanims so that web fonts cannot be be dragged/dropped
> to/from the web inadvertently". A simple compression/obfuscation
> scheme could achieve this. I'm still hopeful that Vlad's proposal, or
> some variation of it, can gain the support of font vendors.

It's possible I'm reading too much into the statement made by Thomas  
of Adobe, but he seemed to be against the idea of using the access  
control standards (currently a working draft) for limiting access, as  
it would put the responsibilty of doing so into the hands of those who  
control the servers (authors), instead of making it something  
automatic when the UA read the font. Obfuscation was only half of what  
was needed, and he seems to be rejecting the best bet on the other half.

>
>> The big foundries might change their tune when they see smaller
>> independant foundries eating the pie that was left on the table. So
>> for those independant with a more open mind, I wonder if the current
>> type formats allow for some sort of watermark or per-font-purchaser
>> digital signing that would assist said smaller foundries in doing
>> their own policing? Or would that require a new format?
>
> Current font formats can hold a copyright statement that, potentially,
> could encode legal prose. I wouldn't want browsers to try parsing that
> prose, but any text -- up to 64k, I've been told -- can be stored in
> this field.

Me neither. I was thinking of something that the browser would ignore,  
such as a digital signature or guid representing the buyer. Then  
someone representing the foundries could develop a search engine that  
indexed all the linked fonts on the Web so that duplicates can be  
found and investigated. If the same buyer/site owner signature was  
found on unrelated sites then the foundry could take legal action.





>
>
> Cheers,
>
> -h&kon
>              Håkon Wium Lie                          CTO °þe®ª
> howcome@opera.com                  http://people.opera.com/howcome

Received on Thursday, 13 November 2008 00:04:42 UTC