most five to 10 minutes of the event has been illegally redistributed .
Along with choking off a specific stream and the associated revenue , such actions should also have a longer term deterrent effect and steer people back towards legal sources . If users keep losing a stream just before a goal in a football match or a KO in boxing , they will switch to alternatives .
This comes back to the most important point of all , which is that watermarking by itself cannot enable infringing streams to be taken down in near real time , because it offers no way of detecting which ones are illicit in the first place . This requires a combination of other components of the ecosystem , in particular network forensic techniques and digital fingerprinting , which combine to identify streams that are clearly illicit .
Digital fingerprinting vs . watermarking Digital fingerprinting is often confused with watermarking , not helped by the fact that it is often wrongly associated with a technique also called on-screen messaging . Here a client device , typically a set-top box , displays an identifying number or text on top of the video for a short period , which is then transmitted with the stream . However , the message is not embedded in the video and can easily be countered by pirates simply by overlaying graphics on top of the message , so it has not gained wide traction , although has been used in some Indian pay-TV services .
Alternatively , genuine digital fingerprinting , as the name implies , involves taking a snapshot of specific video assets so that they can subsequently be identified economically in terms of computation without having to compare longer video sequences on a frame by frame basis . The main value then lies in recognising video sequences by their fingerprints , often in order to enforce copyright . Google ’ s YouTube was one of the first major users of fingerprinting to identify and remove user generated video that violated the copyright claims of original owners , for example by incorporating elements of a movie .
Digital fingerprints are also used by systems that crawl the internet searching for streams that may be infringing , which is where the link with network forensics comes in . The aim is to identify anomalies that indicate a given stream may be an illicit retransmission , which could be when an account is permanently tuned into a given sports channel . This might show up as a single IP address continually streaming sports , which would be suspicious given it is highly unlikely one person would be watching a channel all day and every day . This would be strongly indicative that the channel was being restreamed illicitly and increased scrutiny can immediately be applied .
Digital fingerprinting can then identify specific assets being redistributed , although it might seem that this would not work so well for live sports because it takes time to generate a fingerprint and store it in the database for subsequent comparison . However , digital fingerprinting systems can now ingest and index live content online within a minute or two of broadcasting , which is quick enough for effective action to be taken such as taking down a live stream . Digital fingerprinting is already being used to identify copyrighted sporting highlights being uploaded on user generated content ( UGC ) sites while the actual event is still going on .
Watermarking is a complementary but distinct technique involving insertion of unique identifying features into specific streams or transmissions of media content , which can be done in principle at any point of the transmission system from head end to client device . This gives the potential to trace a specific stream back to any point at which a watermark was inserted . In the case of a stream that has just been identified as a likely candidate for being an illegal redistribution , extraction of watermarks in the content can trace it back to those sources where the marks were inserted .
Watermarking can then provide irrefutable evidence that content has been leaked and lays the foundation for further action . For a movie that action might involve suspension of subscription , or in the case of live sports , immediate deauthorisation of the source stream to a device .
Apart from counter piracy and deterrence , watermarking can also help enhance revenue and improve quality of service in various ways , by complementing DRM for online services in particular . For example , it can enable distribution of promotional content to devices without DRM , using watermarking to gain visibility over where and how that content is being accessed .
Importance of robust watermarking ecosystem Watermarking does introduce new complexities , which is why most operators will need a partner that can provide not just the core technology but also a complete ecosystem incorporating all the associated components , including network forensics and digital fingerprinting . That is why Verimatrix has established relationships with relevant leading partners in these fields , such as Friend MTS , whose content and platform protection services offer a comprehensive solution that protects against video piracy by accurately identifying and targeting , in real time , the source of illegitimate redistribution .
It is also important to consider that , just like any other security technology , watermarking itself will be subject to attack by pirates and hackers , seeking to disable or bypass the protection it provides . Watermarking is a new technology for most pay-TV operators and at this stage it is unclear exactly what form specific attacks on the system might take , but it is clear they will entail in some way altering marks so that they can no longer reveal sources of infringing streams .
It should also be possible to apply tools to identify where the attacks have taken place . Indeed , because the overall monitoring system is designed to be interactive so that it can discover possible redistributions and then extract watermarks in real time , it can also detect when the marks are under attack .
There are different types of watermarking techniques with varying levels of robustness , extraction performance and imperceptibility to the user , with the best choice depending on factors such as content value and whether it is live or on-demand . It all adds up to a lot of complexity which Verimatrix is easily able to handle with our VideoMark toolbox that offers a comprehensive spectrum of forensic watermarking and anti-piracy capabilities . With the diversity of challenges and opportunities in the digital video business environment , innovation in revenue security becomes of paramount importance . Watermarking is part of a multi-layered content protection strategy that can grow a service provider ’ s competitive advantage by offering UHD content and unique OTT services .
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