Using Digital Watermarking to Fight Against Content Piracy

April 26, 2007 on 6:17 pm | In Digital Watermarking | No Comments

A few weeks ago I spoke with Rob Hof of Businessweek Magazine about digital watermarking. Rob was right that I am skeptical about why content does not come out with a digital watermark - an imperceivable label - that gives the content owner control over distribution/copying etc. In fact, many major content owners tout digital watermarking as an important element in the “anti-piracy toolkit.” To be honest, I think it is going to be a while before we see even one standard not to mention one standard only.

We have been involved in reviewing DRM solutions for clients and have negotiated several licenses for this technology. We have also been involved in the litigation that relates to tampering with copy protection devices and code. If you are weighing the issue of watermarking your content - whether written, software, video, music - I’d be interested in knowing which solutions you think have worked best/worst.

Here is what confuses me. It seemed easy for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to catch Salvador Nunez, the sister of an Oscar voter, who allegedly uploaded a copy of “Flushed Away” to the Internet. A digital watermark was purportedly embedded into “each of the DVDs distributed to the nearly 6,000 voters for this year’s Academy Awards,” according to thebatt.com and the Electronic Engineering Times.

Or was it? The motion picture association is currently reviewing info from “digital watermarking” providers in an attempt to come up with a standard solution. I doubt their request for info yields anything new and will probably not go any further than the last time this was done in 2003. (See ARDG mtg info) The last time this was done — all proposals were “inadequate” it seems.

If it was so easy or desireable, why hasn’t the MPA adopted this approach instead of its repetitive complaint that it is losing billions each year to piracy? It may infact be that the MPA and its members really do not want to adopt this type of solution. Afterall, who is really going to pay for it.

Existing Solutions. The adult industry has been exposed (no pun intended) to digital watermarking technologies for years, in part to account for 2257 record keeping requirements. Adult content publishers use drm on still and video images to track referrals, for record keeping and simply to follow the money. [Update: Academics have been writing about digital watermarking technologies and the science of DRM for years].

In addition to Digimarc, that is making a big push touting a patented solution, companies such as www.verimatrix.com, www.surety.com and www.adobe.com have offered tried and true solutions. This is yet another opportunity for the “mainstream” industry to learn from the adult industry. I doubt however that this lesson will be learned anytime soon.

(About Verimatrix: Founded in 1999, Verimatrix is a leading provider of Pay TV encryption, content protection and security solutions that provide the ability to detect and prosecute digital piracy wherever it occurs within the distribution chain. With satisfied customers in North America, Western Europe, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Australia, Verimatrix offers content provider approved carrier-class solutions specifically for today’s bi-directional IPTV networks. Through the seamless integration of patented digital watermarking technology into its best-of-breed encryption solutions, Verimatrix protects content as well as revenue streams. Verimatrix has excellent relationships with the major Hollywood studios by providing valuable anti-piracy solutions for the fight against rampant digital piracy.)

Potential reasons for not adopting a solution.

- in addition to cost, content owners are reluctant to alienate their audience by making the use of content more difficult. That being said, Apple’s iTunes has solved this problem somewhat for music downloads. In Europe, where the EU has attacked - on behalf of industry - Apple’s closed digital rights management system - Apple and EMI launched a DRM free download alternative. Movies are platform dependent in a way music is not. Sure there is a major difference depending on bit rate. Movies simply will not play if the player does not have the proper decoder. Try playing a .mod file for example on quicktime. It won’t work. Thus, each player must have the right decoder for the format of the movie/video content. Or to put it another way, the content is in a format that will only play on a player that can decode that content. Otherwise, you may get video but no sound, vice versa or nothing.

- the movie industry in the US has a broader group of stakeholders than the music industry. This could be a reasonable excuse. Movie right/stakeholders include actors guilds, music right holders, directors, non-union actors. But what does this have to do with it taking so long for the MPA to come up with a solution to control the digital rights management of their content?

- the channel is theater releases, direct to video and rarely direct to the Internet. The investment by the MPA in brick and mortar movie theatres means that any solution is an added cost to an already expensive distribution model. Movie studios already argue that they lose money on each release. DRM is an added cost and it is unclear who will bear it. The MPA has however to come up with something more like PBS does when it broadcasts their monthly specials. If you’ve ever tried taping one for time shifting purposes, you’ll find the tape contains a single interrupt you would not have seen had you watched the program on the tv initially. The signal over the TV transmits a signal interrupt that your VHS picks up and results in a commercially unusable copy. It’s ok to watch if it’s just you watching the “Three Tenors” that you missed but it won’t compete with PBS’ promotion to sell you a good copy if you send in a donation. Clearly they’ve figured out DRM - even in a low tech model.

- Piracy often happens from cracked dvds. Although the MPA sent a letter to Cineplex in Toronto threatening not to release films in Canada unless Canada did something about making it a criminal offense to bring a camera into a movie theatre, the real problem is cracking dvds. Despite its illegality, dvd’s are not impenetrable. Thus, the content itself must be watermarked or a closer coordination with the dvd formatting standard must be developed.

What are your thoughts? Log in and let me know.