Planet eBook Talks To Alchemedia

September 18, 2001

Planet eBook speaks to Alchemdia about eBooks and DRM and previews what it will be demonstrating at the upcoming Planet eBook & DRM Arena at Seybold San Francisco 2001.

What are you going to be exhibiting in the Seybold San Francisco 2001 DRM and E-Books Showcase, and who should go and see you?

Alchemedia will be introducing Mirage Enterprise 3.0, information security software that prevents authorized users from accidentally or intentionally redistributing proprietary data. Incorporating patented technology, users can view and collaborate on documents, either in Adobe® Acrobat or browser-based systems, while the data included in those documents are shielded from all avenues of digital distribution. Completely transparent to the end-user, Mirage in no way affects the way authorized users access to documents. However, they will not be able to copy, save, forward, print or screen capture sensitive, protected data.

As businesses increasingly depend on information systems, outsourcing and collaboration, the threat of sensitive information falling into the wrong hands has become an immediate and costly problem. The widespread use of Intranets and browser-based applications - such as Enterprise Portals, Document Management Systems and B2B Exchanges - has made more information electronically available to more people than ever before. In this climate, confidentiality is easily compromised: with a single keystroke, an irresponsible or disgruntled employee can fire off financial data, HR records, product specifications, clinical trial results or manufacturing plans to unauthorized third parties, or even directly to the competition.

Organizations using business critical applications that permit the sharing of information need to confidently distribute information without the fear of misuse. Mirage Enterprise 3.0 fully understands today's information-sharing needs. Rather than a binary "either-or" paradigm - a user is either 100% trusted and given full control over information, or barred from access because he is not trusted at all - Mirage allows holders of intellectual property to share information, while protecting that information from misuse. With Mirage, companies can communicate freely with business partners, vendors, and others who might be less than 100% trusted, without fear of information theft. This allows organizations to more cost-effectively use their collaboration applications.

How does your DRM solution stand out from the others out there?

Mirage Enterprise 3.0 is aptly named as information protected with the software is exactly that - a mirage. While to the users the information appears unchanged, they cannot compromise the data since it remains encrypted even in RAM. Mirage uses proprietary technology from Alchemedia, as well as industry-standard encryption (AES) and RSA authentication algorithms from RSA Security(TM), to ensure the unencrypted data exists only on the screen itself. Copying, printing, forwarding and saving the data will capture the encrypted data from the RAM only. Alchemedia's technology thus enables a file-independent, platform-agnostic solution for protection of information. Existing methods of persistent information protection rely on 'encapsulation' as a means to protect intellectual property: forcing publishers to render the information into a proprietary file-type and end-users to view information in a proprietary application. The technology used by Mirage results in security that is transparent to both the end-user and publisher.

The world of eBooks and DRM has gone through a year of consolidation, how have you seen the past year and the direction in which it appears to be heading?

While the business need is obvious, companies are reluctant to embrace DRM while the industry is still trying to set standards and make the integration and implementation user-friendly. DRM applications are complex, demanding a lot from the administrative side, as well as demanding changes in the end-users' behavior. This will change as common formats are recognized by software vendors, DRM functionality is built into publishing applications, and transparency for end-users is developed.