Startup Tries Watermarking Instead of DRM

Loosehead Prop writes "A U.K. startup called Streamburst has a novel idea: selling downloadable video with watermarks instead of DRM. The system works by adding a 5-second intro to each download that shows the name of the person who bought the movie along with something like a watermark: 'it's not technically a watermark in the usual sense of that term, but the encoding process does strip out a unique series of bits from the file. The missing information is a minuscule portion of the overall file that does not affect video quality, according to Bjarnason, but does allow the company to discover who purchased a particular file.' The goal is to 'make people accountable for their actions without artificially restricting those actions.'"

Comments

No way

[drfuchs]

Yeah, right. First, just because "my" copy of a movie ends up all over the internet, doesn't mean that I did anything wrong; maybe it was stolen from me. Second, if an evil-doer buys (or steals) a few copies with different watermarks, it's a good bet that he can merge them in a way that obliterates any evidence of where they originals came from. Do your homework, guys.

I applaud the idea. Watermark broken in 3... 2.. 1

[hoggoth]

I applaud the idea of giving people the freedom to do what they please with the media they have purchased. This idea has a great motivation. I wish it could work, however, as much as I like the idea, someone will do the following:
Purchase two copies under different names.
Compare the two bit-for bit. Anywhere the bits are different, set the bit to a random value.
Watermark destroyed. Video intact.