How streaming content is pirated
- Link sharing: an unprotected stream address passed around
- Credential sharing and theft: logins sold or posted publicly
- Stream ripping: tools that download an unencrypted or weakly protected stream
- Screen and HDMI capture: recording the output of a legitimate playback
- Live restreaming: capturing a live event and rebroadcasting it within seconds
- Camera recording: filming a screen
Defenses, matched to the method
- Signed URLs and tokens against link sharing and hotlinking
- Stream and device limits, and sign-in verification, against shared credentials
- DRM against ripping and, with hardware protection, against screen capture
- HDCP against capture from the cable
- Geo-blocking and VPN detection against out-of-territory access
- Forensic watermarking to trace capture and restreaming to an account
- Monitoring and takedown notices against copies already online
Live events are a special case
A film leaked a week after release has lost some value. A match restreamed live has lost nearly all of it, because the value exists only while it is happening. Protection for live events therefore has to work in minutes: watermark detection during the event and the ability to cut off the source account immediately.
Proportion
No measure stops everything, and each has a cost in money or in inconvenience to honest viewers. Match protection to the value of the content and to what your licenses require. Often the most effective anti-piracy measure is a legitimate service that is easy to use and fairly priced in each market.
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