Protecting Digital Content within the Home

• Authors: C. Brendan S. Traw
• Venue: Computer
• Year: 2001

Home users increasingly use digital media to access, store, and display music, movies, and other entertainment content. This trend represents both new business opportunities and risks for content creators and distributors. These risks are magnified for digital content compared with its analog predecessors because of digital reproduction's lossless nature. Further, the widespread availability of digital copying devices and the Internet gives rise to widespread, unauthorized distribution of content using applications and services such as Napster.Licensing and technological mechanisms provide a potent combination for preventing circumvention of content-protection systems while still accommodating consumer practices.Technical protection mechanisms are effective for preventing unsophisticated attempts to circumvent a particular content-protection technology that individuals typically perform. Conversely, licensing and other legal mechanisms work much better for protecting content against misuse by business entities with assets, employees, and distribution channels.A combination of technology and licensing can build a chain of solutions that effectively protect content as users transfer, store, and consume it on entertainment devices within the home.