Encrypting Content

RSL enables client applications to securely license and access proprietary digital assets, including paywalled web content, images, videos, books, or datasets, by using Encrypted Media Standard (EMS) files. Encrypted content files are indicated by the encrypted="true" attribute on the <content> element within the RSL license.

To access the content of an EMS file, a client application must first obtain a license from the designated RSL License Server, and then retrieve the corresponding decryption key via the RSL key management protocol. This ensures that only authorized clients can decrypt and use the content.

The choice of cryptographic algorithms and the implementation of encryption and decryption for EMS files are out of scope for this specification and are left to individual license server operators.

Example Code

Below is an example RSL license file for an encrypted asset.

<rsl xmlns="https://rslstandard.org/rsl">
  <content url="https://example.com/books/example_book.epub.aes" 
           encrypted="true" server="https://rslcollective.org/api">
    <license>
      <permits type=usage>train-ai</permits>
      <payment>
        <custom>https://your-website.com/contact.htm</custom>
      </payment>
    </license>
  </content>
</rsl>