Using Forensic Watermarking to Prevent Piracy

Using Forensic Watermarking to Prevent Piracy During Post-Production and Review Stages in Hollywood

With today’s widespread use of high-definition content, the need for appropriate security measures has increased. Adding forensic watermarking to DRM-protected videos increases the overall level of content security.

For premium content, digital rights management (DRM) technology is used to encrypt it and is preferred by studios around the world, including on mobile devices. Using a common encryption format, a transcoder or packager generates encryption keys that can be used to create multi-DRM protected content. The native component is used to play back the content, and the appropriate DRM technology is selected based on the end-user device or player, and the inherent security features of the browser or OS are used.

Despite the fact that DRM is an effective first line of defence against premium content piracy, it falls woefully short when it comes to limiting piracy after the fact and during the review process. Forensic video watermarkingcomplements DRM technology in helping content owners and distributors track piracy operations throughout the content distribution framework. Unaltered by post-production processes such as transcoding, downscaling, and other alterations for distribution, unique code sequences are added at random locations and embedded with the content. The DRM-protected video frame is decoded, watermarked, and encoded to produce output frames for distribution.

Watermarking content with forensic watermarks allows content owners to control where and when their content is consumed. Using a watermark in the pirated content stream helps to identify the source device if it is stolen and redistributed. Hollywood studios have begun requiring distributors to implement watermarking solutions prior to distributing DRM protected content. The source of the leak can be tracked down using video watermarking if the premium content screening copies are made available online.

It is common for distributors to conduct Internet searches for known pirate sites. When a watermark detector spots suspicious content, it checks for the watermark. It is possible to identify the illegal stream’s source with the help of a watermark if a perfect match is found.

Watermarking provides Hollywood studios with an extra layer of security and helps keep their revenue streams flowing throughout the entire content delivery chain. The organisers of virtual film festivals should, therefore, look for platforms that can securely host virtual festivals and award screenings, as well as additional features such as geo-blocking, secure distribution, and Zoom integration for live sessions. When physical festivals return, virtual platforms may continue to be used for festivals because they have attracted new audiences and expanded viewership.

If you’re using a secret key scheme, you’re inserting and removing watermarks with the same key. A secure method of transmitting the key must be used in this case. A public key can be used to verify an asset’s integrity and ownership in the case of public keys. A private key is used by the image’s owner to add a watermark. Anyone can extract a binary watermark from a watermarked file using the public key during the watermark extraction process.