In what ways do digital rights management (DRM) systems protect video content from illegal copying?
Anti-piracy measures for premium videos are part of a well-established safety system. The rise of OTT streaming services has increased the attention on this security mechanism. Digital rights management (DRM), forensic watermarking, anti-screen capture, and other advanced security features are standard on any OTT platform used by a major production company.
Even though video encryption has long been around, Even when premium video content was sold via optical disc, media companies were able to enforce video encryptions. As a result of this, pirates have routinely obtained encryption keys so they can break the encryption algorithm and make high-quality videos available for piracy purposes in the open market.
DRM protected content was delivered to the user’s device as soon as OTT streaming was introduced. As well as improving subscription plans per device, it solves the issue of delivering encryption keys to clients in an insecure manner. Additionally, the encryption key used to unlock the file blocks is validated before it is used to decrypt the video asset by means of video multi-DRM software (also known as video SaaS). The encryption key is hidden behind a content decryption module (CDM), which can only be accessed through Encrypted Media Extensions, also known as EMEs.
Video watermarking and anti-screen capture are also used by the multi-DRM vendors. Due to the fragmentation of devices and browsers in the OTT market, each video asset requires more than one DRM layer for protection. Widevine DRM is provided by Google and supports Chrome, Firefox, and Edge browsers, Android TV, and Chromecast. Apple FairPlay DRM supports Mac Safari, iOS Safari, and iOS App. Microsoft PlayReady DRM supports Windows Edge browser. These are the major DRM technology providers in the world today:
Because Google and Apple together cover the vast majority of mobile devices, applying Widevine and FairPlay DRM solutions to each video asset can make it secure and playable on the vast majority of these devices as well. As an alternative, content owners may use proprietary DRM systems, such as those hosted on self-hosted servers, to build their own video libraries.