Digital Standards Organization

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Patrick McKiernan
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                              (617)
384-9100
November 14, 2007
pmckiernan@cyber.law.havard.edu

Breaking Down Digital Barriers:
International Study Examines the Issue of Interoperability

Innovation, consumer choice and competition most important considerations
Private sector well-suited to lead interoperability efforts

WASHINGTON, DC -- The findings of an international study released today
by researchers from the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at
Harvard Law School and the Research Center for Information Law,
University of St. Gallen indicate that private sector leadership, more
so than government intervention, is the optimal method for ensuring
that technologies work well together and innovation flourishes.  The
authors of "Breaking Down Digital Barriers:  When and How ICT
Interoperability Drives Innovation" found that interoperability is
generally good for consumers and drives innovation, but determined that
there is no "silver bullet" solution to the issue.

Interoperability has increasingly become more important because
computer users -- whether they be consumers, businesses, or governments
-- now tend to obtain hardware and software from different vendors and
expect everything to work together. One approach to the issue that has
received attention advocates government-mandated adoption of specific
technologies to compel interoperability.  This study suggests that such
approaches are unlikely to be the optimal approach to interoperability.

"Interoperability leads to innovation and many benefits for consumers,"
said co-principal investigator John Palfrey, Executive Director of the
Berkman Center for Internet & Society. "The case studies we
investigated produced clear conclusions:  The ICT industry is achieving
considerable interoperability every day in response to the needs of
customers. There is often more than one way to achieve
interoperability.  Market-driven initiatives tend to provide the most
long-term promise."

"This research demonstrates that there is no standard application to
achieve ICT interoperability," said Urs Gasser, co-principal
investigator and Director of the Research Center for Information Law.
"Attempting to impose universal answers can produce unintended
consequences such as curtailing innovation, limiting consumer choice
and reducing competition. Instead, each situation needs to be analyzed
on its own, to determine the best way to achieve interoperability.  Nor
can we forget that interoperability is simply a means to larger and
more important goals, such as consumer choice, access to content, ease
of use and diversity."

The key findings
The research focused on three case studies in which the issues of
interoperability and innovation are uppermost:  digital rights
management in online and offline music distribution models; various
models of digital identity systems (how computing systems identify
users to provide the correct level of access and security); and web
services (in which computer applications or programs connect with each
other over the Internet to provide specific services to customers).

The core finding is that "increased levels of ICT interoperability
generally foster innovation.  But interoperability also contributes to
other socially desirable outcomes.  In our three case studies, we have
studied its positive impact on consumer choice, ease of use, access to
content, and diversity, among other things."

The investigation reached other, more nuanced conclusions:
* Interoperability does not mean the same thing in every context and as
such, is not always good for everyone all the time.  For example, if
one wants completely secure software, then that software should
probably have limited interoperability.  In other words, there is no
one-size-fits-all way to achieve interoperability in the ICT context.
* Interoperability can be achieved by multiple means including the
licensing of intellectual property, product design, collaboration with
partners, development of standards and governmental intervention.   The
easiest way to make a product from one company work well with a product
from another company, for instance, may be for the companies to cross
license their technologies.  But in a different situation, another
approach (collaboration or open standards) may be more effective and
efficient.
* The best path to interoperability depends greatly upon context and
which subsidiary goals matter most, such as prompting further
innovation, providing consumer choice or ease of use, and the spurring
of competition in the field.
* The private sector generally should lead interoperability efforts.
The public sector should stand by either to lend a supportive hand or
to determine if its involvement is warranted.

Recommendations
The authors of the study propose a process constructed around a set of
guidelines to help businesses and governments determine the best way to
achieve interoperability in a given situation.  This approach may have
policy implications for governments.
* Identify what the actual end goal or goals are.  The goal is not
interoperability per se, but rather something to which interoperability
can lead, such as innovation or consumer choice.
* Consider the facts of the situation.  The key variables that should
be considered include time, maturity of the relevant technologies and
markets and user practices and norms.
* In light of these goals and facts of the situation, consider possible
options against the benchmarks proposed by the study: effectiveness,
efficiency and flexibility.
* Remain open to the possibility of one or more approaches to
interoperability, which may also be combined with one another to
accomplish interoperability that drives innovation.
* In some instances, it may be possible to convene all relevant
stakeholders to participate in a collaborative, open standards process.
 In other instances, the relevant facts may suggest that a single firm
can drive innovation by offering to others the chance to collaborate
through an open API, such as Facebook?s recent success in permitting
third-party applications to run on its platform.  But long-term
sustainability may be an issue where a single firm makes an open API
available according to a contract that it can change at any time.
* In the vast majority of cases, the private sector can and does
accomplish a high level of interoperability on its own.  The state may
help by playing a convening role, or even in mandating a standard on
which there is widespread agreement within industry after a
collaborative process.  The state may need to play a role after the
fact to ensure that market actors do not abuse their positions.

The report and case studies can be downloaded at
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/interop.  The research was sponsored by
Microsoft Corporation.