Protecting Video Files online

E

EIREHotspur

Well-known member
As there is no dedicated Web Video Forum I thought this would be the best place for this.

I have been asked about how to sell Video tutorials online and protect people stealing them.
I know you cannot stop people 100% from stealing files as you can get screen recorders etc but the best solution would be?

Lynda.com is the sort of example I am aiming for.
 
Flash is probably the most bullet proof format. QTs and WMVs can be downloaded and edited pretty easily.

Watermark your work. Also, the watermark should be somewhere kind of prominent so that it cannot be cropped out and re-distributed.

Password protect access to the video.



J
 
The above post is right, however it is increasingly easy to download flash these days.

Watermarks work. Try make it very visable or you can do what DVD Screeners do..

Have your watermark then throughout the video fade in for a few seconds your logo/website/details then fade out for every 5/10 minutes of footage.

Should do the trick.
 
Thanks for the replies lads.

Realplayer lets you download videos I know.

The problem with your ideas is that as these are Tutorial Videos on certain software....the downloaders would probably just want to get them and pass on to their college friends to save money and not for financial gain.

Your right though about some kind of watermark....I could do the logo in the corner and a few graphics that appear randomly.
 
I'm a software developer as well as a videographer. I can tell you that there is *no* online video that I cannot easily save.

Even Lynda.com/Total Training make it ridiculously easy to save the files (simply open your internet cache folder and freely copy the .mov file.)

That's just the nature of the internet. Your computer can't display information without downloading it in some method or another. All of the "protection" schemes simply try to hide that file from the casual user.

I have sucessfully written code that would provide the user only 24 hours to access a file, and after that time the link would no longer work, but they still could look in their cache folder.

Your best protection is to provide quality content that a user will happily pay for, and not get upset about the few who will circumvent your policies.
 
I re-read my post and realized I never really answered your question...

So here's how I believe Lynda.com does it:

1. The link to the video calls the javascript "showwindow" command which opens the content in a new window without a menu bar, thus stopping the caual user from viewing the source.
2. The link to the .mov file includes a couple of parameters ("e" and "h") which probably identifies you as a logged-in user. Code on the server apparently uses those parameters to only serve that file during that session.
3. The embedded QuickTime player is using the parameter "kioskmode=true" to hide the "Save As" menu command in QuickTime Pro which prevents the casual saving of QuickTime content.
 
One of Adobe's latest Media servers for Flash content will stream flash video without allowing it to be saved on the target system. However, the reality is, if you can see it or hear it, it can be captured. Its called someone points a camera at the screen.

If someone wants to spoof you, then watermarking your stuff just helps them reinforce the illusion. Protection systems usually just keep the honest people honest. Whenever someone invents a foolproof system, the world responds by coming up with better fools!
 
I think the bottom line is if people wanted to protect their videos, they'd nor throw em on the web that is world-wide.
I have had a lot of videos pirated, direct copyright infringements
...all of which have been free advertising.
All that said, we go back to vimeo. With use of password login, it's as secure as your own website with a flash movie.
 
craigbowman said:
Its called someone points a camera at the screen.
Click to expand...
It doesn't even have to be that complicated. You can use Camtasia or any of a number of equivalent screen capture programs.

Placing your watermark does not prevent anyone from copying the video, it just prevents them from passing it on as their own. It simply tells them who to thank!

If you want to sell on-line video, you just need to accept a certain amount of piracy.
 
well, or just copyright it and follow up when people steal it.
All of my content is protected but again, I found it easier to utilize free publicity than writing a check to my lawyer.
 
well, as soon as you pay uncle sam and you copyright atty, it is. lol
You can skip the atty part and do it online a little cheaper.
Being the creator od something has never meant ownership of it. Pimpin Sam requires a cut for that.
 
grinner said:
well, as soon as you pay uncle sam and you copyright atty, it is. lol
Click to expand...
You're referring to registering a copyright. Your works of art, music, etc, all have copyright protection with or without formal copyright registration with the Library of Congress or any other copyright office. However, copyright registration adds proof of copyright ownership and aids you in fighting copyright infringement.

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html#register
 
Three thoughts:

1. If you register your copyrights, then you're entitled to statutory damages, which are something like $25,000 per infringement (i.e., a single video on a single site) It's open-and-shut to file the case and win, so most people will negotiate willingly and pay a reasonable sum for stealing your content. If you don't have the copyright registered, you have to show actual damages, which is difficult to do. And the registration must have happened before the infringing use.

2. Adobe (as well as several competitors) have streaming server software where the files are not cached, and as several have said, you can still use screen capture for those. However, there are some rather clever technologies people have come up with, such as an invisible layer over the browser screen where the video image is displayed that fools most of the screen capture software and causes it to record a black block instead of the video. I've not seen anything effective for capturing when this technology is used.

3. Adobe now has an encrypted flash technology (encrypted flash streaming server combined with their latest encrypted flash player) that offers pretty strong DRM technology that intercepts attempts to capture the video stream as it's being displayed. It's not toally immune from screen captures but it's resistant.

So the technologies are there that make it difficult for someone to rip your content, and the procedure is there to make it financially ruinous for someone to do so, but if someone is bound and determined, they will probalby succeed.
 
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