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Video Services May Use AI To Crack Down on Password Sharing (variety.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Still using your ex-roommates cable credentials to watch "Game of Thrones?" That may soon be getting a lot harder, thanks to new efforts to crack down on password sharing for pay TV and online video services. One of these efforts, launched by London-based Synamedia ahead of next week's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), even uses artificial intelligence to uncover notorious password sharers. Credentials Sharing Insight, as the new service is being called, targets both casual password sharing as well as criminal enterprises looking to resell pay TV login information. However, the focus clearly is on friends and family taking their generosity a bit too far, explained Symanedia chief product officer Jean-Marc Racine in an interview with Variety this week.
[...] Most services have tried to curtail password sharing by limiting the number of simultaneous streams, with little else to go by to identify abuse. "Today, you are in the dark," he said. Synamedia's solution on the other hand digs through lots of data to cluster users based on their streaming behavior. This can include user's physical location (someone streaming from both coasts at the same time) as well as general usage patterns (someone streaming 24/7). The company can even take a look at the specific content streamed by a user to identify unusual patterns. Based on these clues, Synamedia trains models to score users on a scale of 1 to 10, indicating whether they are likely sharing their passwords or not.
[...] Most services have tried to curtail password sharing by limiting the number of simultaneous streams, with little else to go by to identify abuse. "Today, you are in the dark," he said. Synamedia's solution on the other hand digs through lots of data to cluster users based on their streaming behavior. This can include user's physical location (someone streaming from both coasts at the same time) as well as general usage patterns (someone streaming 24/7). The company can even take a look at the specific content streamed by a user to identify unusual patterns. Based on these clues, Synamedia trains models to score users on a scale of 1 to 10, indicating whether they are likely sharing their passwords or not.
WTF DO YOU NEED AI FOR THIS?!
Geez - just cap the number of simultaneous logins to whatever your business is comfortable with (usually 2 or 3) and/or record the device IDs.
It's not rocket science people. But then AI is the new electrolytes... it's got wut plants crave!
>> Still using your ex-roommates cable credentials to watch "Game of Thrones?"
No, this is SlashDot. We pretty much just pirate GoT; using other people's credentials is way too much of a hassle.
I'm pretty sure when you signed up for these services that somewhere in the agreement they say you are not allowed to give your information to one million of your closest friends, or use the service in any other than for your personal enjoyment (i.e. no streaming it to the world).
If your next statement is along the lines, "I don't care what the agreement says", then you're the reason these companies are taking these steps.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
This is effectively DRM and will lead to an increase in piracy. These dumbasses never learn.
Founder, Americans Allied Against Alliteration