A fingerprint-based system can automatically issue take-down notices for copyrighted content or remove media from a website

Benefits of forensic marking

As a deterrent against piracy: • Watermarking does not interfere in any way with the viewer experience

• Provides information such as operator ID, subscriber ID and date and time information

• Properly engineered watermarks are robust against various forms of distortion such as (in case of video): compression, cropping, rotating, mirroring, noise addition, black and white conversion, and last but not least, camcorder capturing

• Mitigates risk of subscriber churn and revenue erosion which would result from the availability of pirate copies

As a forensic analysis tool: • Information retrieved from watermark detection allows rights owners to take action against the organization or individual identified as the originator of a pirate copy

• Rights owners can black-list or negotiate settlement fees with parties identified as a source of leakage

• Distributors can organize targeted gradual response with consumers who illicitly redistributed content

Linear, VoD and on-line transactions

Broadcast pay-TV channels can be watermarked in real-time as it passes through the device in the home for viewing. The forensic marking can also take place when (re)playing content from the integrated PVR (personal video recorder) which addresses the need for watermarking in push-VoD satellite services (see figure 4).

Figure 5: server integration for compressed video Fingerprinting scenario

With web 2.0 applications consumers can create and share content in simple stages. The explosive growth in the popularity of such applications has created a new content distribution and consumption paradigm. These new ‘channels’ of distribution have the potential to create substantial new revenue streams from advertising.

Often, however, the content generating the highest interest contains copyrighted material. Content owners demand their share of this new advertising medium or urge UGC platforms to block unauthorized usage or distribution of their content. With identification technologies available, both content owners and media distributors are working together to develop new business models in order to monetize their content and create legal and sustainable businesses.

Figure 4: Set-top-box and linear TV watermarking

Additionally, watermarking can be integrated by manufacturers of VoD servers and streaming servers. In such an environment, the content is watermarked upon ingestion in the service platform. Content can also be pre-encrypted, or encrypted on-the-fly during streaming.

Using fingerprinting technology, content owners can pre-determine actions or business rules they require upon identification of the content. For instance, a fingerprint-based system can automatically issue take-down notices for copyrighted content or remove media from a website Content Management System during or after upload. Rules can also include redirecting or ad-linking instructions, i.e. upon identification of a particular piece of content, a specific ad, related to such content, can be inserted (see figure 6).

With server side watermarking a two-stage approach is used. Both the pre-processing and embedding are performed at the head-end. Server side watermarking is used in two-way networks like cable, IPTV or other on-line delivery networks (see figure 5). The pre-processing embeds an operator specific watermark and makes the content traceable before it is distributed. When a request is made to the VOD server to deliver content to a particular device, a unique session ID and timestamp are embedded in the video stream just before it is delivered.The implementation of watermarking in pay-TV services is attractive to content owners for licensing early-window premium VoD content.

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