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Re: DAISY reader et al
would be a bizarre NDA if they said "you can read the spec,
implement it --but you cant tell others about the spec --but
you can publish the code"--
to maintain their security by obscurity under such
circumstances they'll have to find a really bad software
designer to ensure the code is unreadable.
>>>>> "Janina" == Janina Sajka <janina@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
Janina> I understand this and agree that protecting GPL
Janina> takes precedence. What I'm unclear about is
Janina> whether the NDA actually prevents publishing
Janina> source with the unpacker. I'll have to reread
Janina> it. I know that sounds crazy.
Janina> On Tue, 14 May 2002, T. V. Raman wrote:
>> X-UID: 7304
>>
>> With respect to your second question -- Re: my
>> signing an NDA with RFB/Daisy to implement a reader
>> for unpacking their books --I will do no such thing
>> --primarily because such an NDA will definitely tie
>> my hands with respect to open sourcing the
>> implementation.>>>>>
>>
>> In fact their policy as you describe will preclude
>> any open source implementation, since their security
>> by obscurity will not survive an open source
>> implementation. This is also the reason why I have
>> not bothered doing
>>
>> anything with bookshare. "Janina" == Janina Sajka
>> <janina@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
>>
Janina> Hi, Raman: Thanks for the explanation. I know
Janina> that book. It's rather old, so was written to an
Janina> interim spec from about 3 years ago. It was an
Janina> influential book at the time because it
Janina> demonstrated important concepts we wanted to
Janina> capture in the spec, but it is no way
Janina> representative of the final ANSI Z39.86.
>>
Janina> I will get you copies of reference books as soon
Janina> as some are available. In fact, I've already
Janina> asked about the status of these. Some are in
Janina> process at NLS, and others will be available
Janina> from DAISY. Please recognize, though, that it
Janina> will be some time--years actually--before
Janina> DAISY3/ANSI Z39.86 content is generally
Janina> available to patrons of various libraries for
Janina> the blind around the world.
>>
Janina> What is available now is content encoded in
Janina> DAISY 2.02. I strongly suggest support for this
Janina> spec, because this is the spec usd by RNIB,
Janina> CNIB, and RFB&D, to name but a few. I'm
Janina> referring to thousands of titles available
Janina> through these programs. Some of this content is
Janina> text plus audio, most is audio only.
>>
Janina> I can also get yopu reference content for DAISY
Janina> 2.02, and would be glad to do so. The spec is at
Janina> http://www.daisy.org/publications/specifications.asp
Janina> where it's available online and as a zip
Janina> download.
>>
Janina> Here's the critical question regarding RFB&D
Janina> books. Are you willing to sign an NDA with DAISY
Janina> in order to get the spec for unpacking RFB&D
Janina> content?
>>
Janina> Yes, they opted for an obscurity based security
Janina> solution. Much could be said about why, and why
Janina> it should be different. But, that's another
Janina> discussion.
>>
Janina> The point here is that RFB&D will be shipping CD
Janina> ROMs encoded according to an unpublished
Janina> specification available to developers willing to
Janina> sign an NDA with DAISY.
>>
Janina> On Mon, 13 May 2002, T. V. Raman wrote:
>> >> Here is what happened --
>> >>
>> >> I ran into Markku Hakkinen at the W3C Cannes
>> plenary >> reception in early March and when I asked
>> him on the >> status of things in DaisyLand --he told
>> me about the >> myriad of commercial players being
>> built for Windows. >> So I asked him for a sample so
>> I could write one for >> Linux.
>> >>
>> >> Along with a copy of the Daisy 3 spec, he gave me
>> >> "The complete fairy tales of Charles Perrault" >>
>> allegedly in in Daisy3 format -- after coming home I
>> >> wrote a player for it one evening.
>> >>
>> >> I say "allegedly" above because the navigation xml
>> >> file I got from him does not validate either
>> against >> the DTD he gave me then or the eventual
>> Daisy3 spec.
>> >>
>> >> The functionality that is implemented is
>> documented >> in the online info pages; when and if
>> Daisy3 content >> becomes available --and that
>> content is something I >> want to read i.e., not just
>> fairy tales-- I will >> probably add to what the
>> emacspeak daisy player does.
>> >>
>> >> >>>>> "Janina" == Janina Sajka <janina@xxxxxxxxxxx> >>
>> writes:
>> >>
Janina> Raman; Ann's question about the DAISY reader in
Janina> Emacspeak 16 reminds me to ask a similar
Janina> question of you.
>> >>
Janina> The docs say this is a device for reading
Janina> DAISY3content. But, there are yet no titles in
Janina> this format. Indeed, I'm not aware that DAISY
Janina> has yet adopted ANSI Z39.86 as DAISY3, though
Janina> they certainly will.
>> >>
Janina> So, here's the question ...
>> >>
Janina> What titles did you test with?
>> >>
Janina> --
>> >>
Janina> Janina Sajka, Director Technology Research and
Janina> Development Governmental Relations Group
Janina> American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)
>> >>
Janina> Email: janina@xxxxxxxxxxx Phone: (202) 408-8175
>> >>
Janina> Chair, Accessibility SIG Open Electronic Book
Janina> Forum (OEBF) http://www.openebook.org
>> >>
Janina> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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>> >>
Janina> --
>>
Janina> Janina Sajka, Director Technology Research and
Janina> Development Governmental Relations Group
Janina> American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)
>>
Janina> Email: janina@xxxxxxxxxxx Phone: (202) 408-8175
>>
Janina> Chair, Accessibility SIG Open Electronic Book
Janina> Forum (OEBF) http://www.openebook.org
>>
Janina> --
Janina> Janina Sajka,
Janina> Director Technology Research and Development
Janina> Governmental Relations Group American Foundation
Janina> for the Blind (AFB)
Janina> Email: janina@xxxxxxxxxxx Phone: (202) 408-8175
Janina> Chair, Accessibility SIG Open Electronic Book
Janina> Forum (OEBF) http://www.openebook.org
--
Best Regards,
--raman
Email: raman@xxxxxxxxxxx
WWW: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/raman/
AIM: TVRaman
PGP: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/raman/raman.asc
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