Nice ass ! Can I kick it ?



:Graucho

That's what I figured ... as far as server side scripting is concerned...

As far as the copying issue ... I do a lot of phone sex/webcam with big spender pay-per-minute customers ...

I also show them videos that they can't copy ... and the vast majority --- particularly my best repeat customers --- don't mind at all ... as long as they know that's part of the deal ahead of time ...

I'm not convinced that restricted copying hurts business that much ... I know of a lot of other successful pay sites that do it as well ...

The beauty of DRM --- assuming it works as advertised --- is that the customer can download the content and view it personally whenever they want --- but, of course, within certain time constraints and without the ability to distribute it elsewhere ...

Personally ... I'm not going to let my content out there without some protection ...

This whole thread demonstrates that piracy is getting out of control and I think it's reaching the point where webmasters are losing a ton of money ...

"Fair Use" would be great if customers only used the content for that purpose ... But they don't ... All it takes is one bad customer who will give it away to thousands and, by then, you're losing a ton of money ...

So, for me, DRM ... or something like it ... is the only viable solution ...

mmm food for thought.

Did you consider both the nuisance of users having to download (or stream; however it is) the content again if they want a second look? On your side of things this means expanded bandwidth charges.

Assuming the encrypted data isn't cached at the client's end, that is.

I am under the impression you don't deal with images, but have you looked into this kind of protection for jpegs?

Easy problem to sort out, get everyone to boycott ISPrime untill they remove his site..he will then find a new host and we then email them and get them to do the same..that way he will burn in eternal hell...

Well ... I haven't had a chance to actually use DRM yet for various reasons ...

But from what I understand, if set up properly, DRM can give you several options: Streaming or downloads where you set the parameters ... either the number of viewings or time limits when the content expires on the computer. So, I assume you can control the bandwidth situation ...

I'm only familiar with the video/audio applications ... and I think it can be used with books and such ... but I've never heard of it being used with jpegs, although it might be possible ...

Perhaps this link could help answer your question ...

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/drm.asp

big surprise there. the guy running this site will never give a fuck about anyone or anything else but his money, he knows _exactly_ the kind of operation hes running and hes not kidding himself. if you can, sick the lawyers on him. otherwise don't bother paying attentiont to anything he says. he'll just show up once a month and offer some stupid psuedo solution to pretend hes trying to appease people, just like any other scammer.

Ah great. Thanks for the link, it looks very comprehensive. Haven't looked at it thoroughly but I think there probably is something for jpegs. There must be, since it's got everything but the kitchen sink... my new project only deals in pics so it's got nothing to offer otherwise but interesting nevertheless.

I had a thought. As pirates are always going to be ripping off movies, I'm thinking the smartest and most cunning will find a solution to the encryption (they always seem to, remember the inception of DVD? It was touted as unbreakable. Guess what, somebody broke it in their spare time.). There is so much misspent talent out there, nobody can ever claim an uncrackable anything. If it's internet transportable, it'll never be iron clad (hmm this analogy seems quite fitting, as <i>really</i> effective protection is very heavy). Since it's not only a ripped bandwidth solution, it's also for copyright, as stated above. In this case, as you said, all it takes is a single customer to let it out to thousands - as long as they have the brains and the means to crack it.

Let us all know how you go if/when you set it up!

Actually ... I've only seen one crack for DRM ... and that was for audio. The pirate actually had to pay for the audio track to crack it ... something pirates absolutely hate and usually refuse to do ... LOL

The audio crack also involved a dozen pages of extremely complicated decryption instructions that other pirates would have to follow to get the same track he did. From what I understand ... those files won't play on other computers without the decrytion key ... hence the need for the detailed instructions ...

I've never seen an effective DRM video crack. In fact, I just saw a post on a pirate board today stating that the so-called video "cracks" didn't work ...

Also, DRM is supposedly setup to easily change the encryption if any cracks occur ...

Based upon what I've seen to date ... I'm pretty comfortable with the security on DRM. Sure ... there's always some risk ... but as long as it remains a major hassle for the most sophisticated pirates ... that works for me ...

Besides ... as this whole thread demonstrates ... video files (particularly large ones) are pretty hard to trade unless the pirates have a place to store them. A lot of the free bandwidth accounts that they used to use have dried up ... hence the reason they're hotlinking to webmaster sites more than usual ...

That's not to say they still won't trade video files ... but there's a reason they're always trying to break into our sites ... it's a lot easier for them to use our bandwidth and storage. Anything else is a major hassle and tends to cut down on the piracy .... at least to some extent ...

mmm good, it's encouraging to hear about things such as this. One up for the webmaster.

I agree with everything you're saying regarding why they link us more nowadays. And because of the free services drying up, it is obviously helping our files to not be distributed as much, despite it costing us more in bandwidth. Lose one, ya get the other.

But yeh, we could have it all with something like this.

Although say you were only concerned with the copying of your files. Not even DRM can protect against software copying the video output onto a monitor (to then be re-compiled into an mpeg, divx), can it?

Good point ... and screen capture is particularly problemactic for jpegs ... I really don't know what can be done about that ...

And there are screen capture programs for video such as Camtasia ...

Although I notice that the pirates frequently talk about using that method only as a last resort when they can't crack the files any other way ...

I assume that's because the quality isn't so great and/or the capture programs are difficult ... at least with video ...

Of course ... that could always change over time but for now, at least, ... based upon the pirate posts I've read ... it's not yet a major concern ...

At least in this scenario they would still have to pay for the video in order to capture it under DRM ...

Oh yeh, I didn't think about the implications for jpegs (It's 4am..I deserve to be slow)! What a nightmare.

mmm, I'm guessing it'd be the quality issue - it's like compressing an image twice, since the second time 'round the screen grabber only has the raw data - the compression algorithm is completely lost before being compressed again.

ehhe I spose, look on the bright side - atleast you're profiting from the pirates too hey. *g*

Bed awaits ...