 |
||
The rise in popularity and functionality of the Internet is transforming the way it is viewed by many businesses and organisations. The result is that many are now attempting to utilise its global reach and accessibility for the purposes of commercial gain. Unfortunately, where there are goods or services to be bought and sold, there is inevitably an accompanying criminal element. Due to the nature of the Internet, where products can be copied and distributed globally in a matter of seconds, cybercrime offers lawmakers its own set of particular challenges. With digital piracy already having the dubious accolade of being in the top five of Internet abuses, it is small wonder that finding a solution to the problem has become a top priority. Also, the advent of broadband (which will create a far larger market for digital content and also make it easier to distribute) is increasing the pressure on governments to protect content owners. Legal framework Fortunately, the international authorities foresaw the problems and took steps to create a legal framework that would underpin the use of a commercial Internet. In 1996, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) published the ‘Copyright’ and ‘Performances and Phonographs’ Treaties which addressed some of the main challenges facing the control of, and responsibility for, copyright in the digital age. Of particular significance to the Internet, the WIPO Treaties specifically addressed copyright issues with regard to networking technologies. In 1998, the US implemented these treaties when they were integrated into its ‘Digital Millennium Copyright Act’. In April 2001, the European Union followed suit by integrating the Treaties into its own ‘Copyright Directive’. While not yet officially adopted by Member States, it must become law in each State within 18 months of its publication. Despite this new international framework, digital piracy remains problematic. There are many loops holes and much of the new law has yet to be tested. Will it stand up? It is too early to say. And it is for this reason that many companies, rather than depending on the law to deter any would-be pirate, are placing their faith in preventative measures, including technical solutions. To counter the threat of digital piracy and copyright infringement, a number of organisations and companies have set themselves up as guardians of online copyright integrity. One company, Net Searchers, not only undertakes special projects for companies wishing to tackle digital piracy on the Internet, but also helps its clients take preventative measures. "An international industry association worked with Net Searches to identify 60,000 abuses of its members copyrighted materials. Our search consultants conducted a market survey to identify patterns of abuse, uncover the tactics of infringers and quantify the extent of the problem,” says Net Searches Chris Patmore. “Following the presentation of our findings, the client proceeded with an anti-piracy campaign, which used a variety of tactics to cover abuse on websites and FTP (file transfer protocol) sites. Over the following 18 months we identified infringers and the ISPs they used, sending out monthly electronic reports to over 40 enforcement offices around the world," he says. Stream to screen? Aside from gathering data about where and how piracy is taking place, there are some practical steps that can be taken that can lessen a company’s exposure and vulnerability to the practise. One of these says, Virtue Broadcasting’s CEO, Paul Hodgins, is with the use of streaming media technologies. "The use of
broadband technologies has encouraged the development of streaming
media. And, since this form of transmitting content does not require
that files are downloaded, piracy becomes more difficult." Important While to many businesses that have never suffered at the hands of fraudsters, digital copyright protection may represent only a minor consideration in the development of a website strategy, its importance to those companies that make their living by selling information or entertainment services cannot be overstated. Furthermore, if the Internet is to become anything more than a free Internet service, then the presence of these companies is vital to the entire market. "Only by affording the protection against piracy will we be able to encourage copyright holders to make their content available over the Internet. This will mean that we will be able to deliver quality content to the consumer, making accessing entertainment on the web more attractive and rewarding," says Chris Hunt, CEO, Digital Classics. And, Hunt too, agrees that streaming media technology is among the best ways of protecting digital content. "Streaming content, as opposed to downloading a file, is inherently more secure because the content cannot easily be duplicated. This is best illustrated by the record labels who have been grappling with this area in an attempt to self preserve, which explains the new subscription services from an eclectic array of partnerships among the five major record labels, Real Networks and Yahoo," he says. But striking a cautionary note is Peter Kumik from Sealed Media who says that content providers, which deploy streaming media, should not be lulled into a false sense of security. "It is wrong to assume streaming is safe, albeit the content is not downloaded, but still remains however, easy to copy." He believes that digital rights management (DRM) is probably the best way forward, along with other technologies such as encryption and PPV - as long as there is a business model to support it. "Content owners and their distributors should first explore if people will ‘pay-per-view’. Let’s face it, pay-per-view is designed to protect content and there is technology available today that enables users and the content use to be monitored." However, while
a comprehensive DRM system might be the ultimate answer to protecting
a companies digital assets, Jennifer Oakes, a principal consultant
at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, points out that there is a cost balance
between developing a secure DRM solution and the potential revenue
gained from protected content. "Content-rich organisations know
this is a ‘must-do’, but are wary of the costs and are therefore
taking a phased approach. Yet, the success of DRM will depend on
the acceptance by consumers of the regulation of e-content. Put it on my bill Integral to the DRM value chain is billing, which potentially poses the most complex of business issues. Although telcos have experience in billing, other content-rich organisations are just starting to explore billing models and are coming to understand their complexities. "One of the benefits of broadband distribution may be that artists will get faster payback on their works. Current artist payment systems are archaic - it can take months or years to be paid - but online distribution offers the possibility of almost instant payment,” says Andrew Rodaway of Intec Telecom Systems. “If an original work is digitally protected and thus uniquely identifiable, and the end-consumer has to pay a fee before downloading or using the content, it is possible to flow the payment back through the delivery chain in real-time. That implies some considerable sophistication within the billing and payment system, but it is the sort of capability that 3G operators will need, and it can be added into other broadband mechanisms, like cable, if the impetus is there," he adds. Encryption Amino Communications also recognises that the Internet and IP solutions are the dominant delivery vehicle of content, whether it is streamed video and audio, e-commerce transactions, web browsing or home automation. Yet, the company also understands that in DRM there is often a trade off between security and speed. "In understanding DRM, our approach takes proven technologies such as Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and combines them with our own technologies, so that content risk is minimised without compromising performance. We have developed a technology which provides variable rate protection of video content, changing the level of protection ‘on the fly’ depending upon how valuable the material is - an approach that crucially conserves bandwidth,” says Martyn Gilbert, founder and CEO of Amino Communications. He continues: “For example, less valuable data such as adverts would be sent clear, news programs which had only transient value would be sent at a low level of encryption, while videos - because of their inherent value - would be transmitted at the highest level of encryption to ensure they could not be pirated.” Amino Communications technology also incorporates digital video watermarking, which enables content owners and providers to trace the illicit copying of content by examining the audit trail of who has handled the video down the distribution chain. The whole content protection framework is underpinned by a unique hierarchical security architecture. This adopts a pragmatic approach, using PKI to authenticate users when they first connect through to a service but then stepping down to more light weight encryption systems where appropriate, and changing keys rapidly to make it very difficult to recover the content illegally. While piracy, undoubtedly, represents a significant challenge to lawmakers and content providers alike, the problem is not insurmountable. Yet to many, the cure may be more distressing than the disease. Copyright infringement can be overcome but it will probably mean the Internet will lose its character as a loose collection of websites where the majority of information is freely available. Protection means control, and control will mean payment. But we should not necessarily oppose this development. When did anyone ever get anything that was worth having for nothing? So, why should content on the Internet be different. |
||