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2012 | Book

Introduction Read chapter Read first chapter

Securing Digital Video

Techniques for DRM and Content Protection

Author: Eric Diehl

Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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About this book

Content protection and digital rights management (DRM) are fields that receive a lot of attention: content owners require systems that protect and maximize their revenues; consumers want backwards compatibility, while they fear that content owners will spy on their viewing habits; and academics are afraid that DRM may be a barrier to knowledge sharing. DRM technologies have a poor reputation and are not yet trusted.

This book describes the key aspects of content protection and DRM systems, the objective being to demystify the technology and techniques. In the first part of the book, the author builds the foundations, with sections that cover the rationale for protecting digital video content; video piracy; current toolboxes that employ cryptography, watermarking, tamper resistance, and rights expression languages; different ways to model video content protection; and DRM. In the second part, he describes the main existing deployed solutions, including video ecosystems; how video is protected in broadcasting; descriptions of DRM systems, such as Microsoft's DRM and Apple’s FairPlay; techniques for protecting prerecorded content distributed using DVDs or Blu-ray; and future methods used to protect content within the home network. The final part of the book looks towards future research topics, and the key problem of interoperability.

While the book focuses on protecting video content, the DRM principles and technologies described are also used to protect many other types of content, such as ebooks, documents and games. The book will be of value to industrial researchers and engineers developing related technologies, academics and students in information security, cryptography and media systems, and engaged consumers.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Introduction
Abstract
Content protection and Digital Rights Management (DRM) are among those fields that get a lot of attention from content owners, consumers, scholars, and journalists. Unfortunately, they have a terrible reputation. This is partly due to a lack of available information, and many misconceptions. This book attempts to demystify the topic. The first part of the book builds the theoretical foundations of DRM. The second part of the book describes the main deployed solutions, such as Pay TV, Microsoft PlayReady and AACS. The third part of the book takes a view to the future and to exploratory topics, such as interoperability.
Eric Diehl
Chapter 2. Why Protect Video?
Abstract
Digital video is a set of binary information that represents video content in compressed or uncompressed format. Thus, it is intrinsically unprotected. In some cases, it needs protection, or it needs to control access under some defined conditions. A digital video may represent a work protected by some copyright laws. Thus, some technical means should enforce these laws. The digital video may have commercial value, which should also be preserved by technical means. Piracy attempts to break these means. We give a brief overview of piracy.
Eric Diehl
Chapter 3. A Tool Box
Abstract
Ideally, content protection should incorporate four complementary types of protection. Physical security should control access to the asset. Encryption should protect the asset itself. Forensics technology should trace the asset. Scouting should limit the illegal use of the asset. This chapter introduces basic technologies to fulfill these protections: cryptography, digital watermarking, hardware and software tamper resistance, as well as compliance and robustness regimes.
Eric Diehl
Chapter 4. Modeling Content Protection
Abstract
To model a system, the designer often analyses different points of view. Each model will represent one point of view. Using one single model is often insufficient for understanding the system. This is especially true for complex systems such as DRM. Currently, content protection models primarily address functional, transactional, and architectural points of view. The functional model describes the different functions of a system and the interactions between them. The transactional model defines the chaining of exchanged messages, of their steps. The architectural model maps the different elements of a system to actual principals such as servers, storage units, and devices. The four-layer model provides a security oriented view of the system.
Eric Diehl
Chapter 5. The Current Video Ecosystem
Abstract
In the early days of TV, there was one source of video programs coming into the home: the public broadcast TV. Today, there are multiple sources of video content for the home. People have access to a huge variety of programming choices though their coaxial cable, satellite dish, DVD, or broadband connection. There are mainly four means of carrying copyrighted video to the home: Broadcast networks, broadband networks, mobile networks, and pre-recorded media.
Eric Diehl
Chapter 6. Protection in Broadcast
Abstract
Since the 80’s, conditional access systems protect broadcast content. We explore standardized systems such DVB, CI+ and OpenCard. The failed initiative of the broadcast flag illustrates some of the nontechnical traps of content protection.
Eric Diehl
Chapter 7. Protection in Unicast/Multicast
Abstract
We will detail some of the solutions, either because their dominant market share makes them inevitable, or because of their pedagogical potential. We start with the two main actors in the field: Microsoft DRM and Apple FairPlay. These two examples introduce the basic architecture, a wide range of usage rights, and also some challenges with the individualization of the client. Later, we present Adobe Flash Access because its design has a distinctive interesting feature. OMA’s description shows a first implementation of domain management. Marlin is a new contender in the arena of DRM with its founders being major consumer electronics manufacturers.
Eric Diehl
Chapter 8. Protection of Pre-recorded/Recordable Medium
Abstract
The protection of pre-recorded and recordable media is highly dependent on the characteristics of the media itself. We will take a brief tour of the protection methods of the most important types of media, mostly optical media. The tour will be organized in the order of their introduction into the market. Thus, the first section provides an overview of the methods that prevent the duplication of Compact Disks (CD) and other optical media. Then we describe how DVDs protect video, the protection method of Sony’s memory stick, a framework used to protect recordable DVDs and some memory cards. Finally, we introduce the protection scheme used for Blu-ray discs.
Eric Diehl
Chapter 9. Protection Within the Home
Abstract
The digital home network handles a plurality of devices using different media such as Ethernet, General Packet Radio Service, Wi-Fi, and USB. DRM/CAS protects content until it reaches the home. The location of this acquisition point within the home network is a tricky issue, known as CA-to-DRM. Content transferred from the acquisition point to other devices needs protection. The first approach is to use link encryption. This is usually done by DTCP. DVB-CPCM proposes a global approach that encompasses the entire home network. Content always stays scrambled within the home network. Descrambling only occurs at rendering and exporting points.
Eric Diehl
Chapter 10. Digital Cinema
Abstract
This section describes the methods used to protect digital cinema and standardized by SMPTE.
Eric Diehl
Chapter 11. The Next Frontier: Interoperability
Abstract
As described before, there are many DRM systems, and content protection systems. Most of them are not interoperable. Unfortunately, the lack of interoperability affects all stakeholders, not only consumers. Thus, interoperability is a highly expected characteristic for the future. We explore five approaches of interoperability: vertical, horizontal, plug-in, translation, and Interoperable Rights Locker. Then, we describe existing solutions such as Coral, UltraViolet, and Keychest. The final section explores how to transcode bulk encryptions and translation of usage rights.
Eric Diehl
Chapter 12. Some Challenges/Goodies
Abstract
This section explores some interesting issues: Open Source based security is reputed more secure than proprietary security. Nevertheless, open source based DRM is not a viable option to protect copyrighted content. Although usually DRM-protected content is encrypted, another approach proposes to use clear content. It heavily relies on the behavior of the end user. Finally, game theory may bring novel approaches in the DRM ecosystem.
Eric Diehl
Chapter 13. Conclusions
Abstract
In Chap.​ 2, we built the case as to why digital video should be protected. Creating movies and TV shows is expensive. The cost of creating them is constantly increasing. The creators and investors expect a fair return on investment. Traditionally, copyright laws have provided an incentive to create with the promise of fair reward. Unfortunately, content digitalization has drastically facilitated piracy, online or in other forms. Although digitalization generates serious cost reduction for production and distribution, the incentive to invest proposed under the umbrella of copyright is in danger. The first aim of content protection may be to enforce fair reward by addressing digital piracy. Analog cultural goods often were offered in versioned packages. A song could be packaged in an album on 33 RPM LP records or audio tapes or as a single song on a 45 RPM LP record. Digital goods could easily offer such versioning if there were a way to create excludability. This is the second aim of video content protection. Furthermore, it is paramount for video content to be protected before its official release date: an early leak represents serious losses for content owners; hence, the B2B business needs efficient content protection solutions. Unfortunately, current solutions sometimes introduce severe restrictions on the use of digital goods. Consumers, being used to user-friendly analog goods, sometimes feel that these digital goods’ restrictions are unfair and unnecessary. This resentment can be loudly expressed. In retaliation, some consumers have deferred to alternate unauthorized sources of digital goods that do not impose usage limitations. This is increasingly putting at risk digital distribution.
Eric Diehl
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
Securing Digital Video
Author
Eric Diehl
Copyright Year
2012
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Electronic ISBN
978-3-642-17345-5
Print ISBN
978-3-642-17344-8
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-17345-5

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