Secure Digital Media. Three words that bring with them so many different meanings. Do they refer to digital rights management (DRM)? Do they refer to the need to maintain control of digital media content as it leaves the grasp of content owners and ventures outside of the content owner's domain? Do the words refer to somehow locking content to a server, as is in the case for certain Digital Cinema initiatives, or locking content to a personal media player? Do the words refer to consumer-oriented destinations? Or is there an aspect of securing digital media during the various stages of content creation?
The answer, of course, is yes. Secure Digital Media and Securing Digital Media refers to both B-B and B-C activities (and certainly extend to C-C where consumers want to share their content with friends). Heretofore, though, when we've seen those three words they have almost always referred to the security of digital media as it exists within the consumer's hands. Does the content have DRM or is it unprotected? Is it locked to a device or is it semi-transportable (and shareable) over an unlimited or a limited number of devices? When you "buy" the content and you can only put it on a certain number of devices you own, did you really buy it?
While various issues as they relate to secure digital media at the consumer level continue to be debated and played out in today's evolving marketplace, what is often overlooked is the applicability of those words-secure and securing digital media-within the overall context of a digital media supply chain. When content is pirated, when is it pirated? Almost always, this occurs during the content creation process and prior to the finished product being available. Early edited versions, video copies of film prints, duplicated DVD or Video screener copies-all of these are subject to the temptations of unauthorized duplication and distribution, often on peer-to-peer networks.
As more content creation applications manipulate digital files and those files are stored on servers and served over networks, and as content creation teams become more globally dispersed files must flow from point to point. It is, therefore, critical to examine what secure digital media and securing digital media really mean.
In order to facilitate the movement of digital media files as they traverse the various stages of production, post-production, and distribution, it is critical to implement solutions that manage the rules under which files will move. Storage, Server, and Networking technologies are intertwined in these solutions and some combination of private networks and the public Internet will be utilized to send and receive files. Among the functions that are mandatory: who determines where the content goes and under what conditions? How will the network and the servers exchanging content be secured, authorized, and authenticated? Will the actual data payload be encrypted? Watermarked? How will the receipt of content be certified such that the content owner can receive non-repudiated proof of a successful content submit and receive?
Securing digital media means securing the digital media supply chain and this must be a critical focus for the Media and Entertainment industry. The adoption of file-based workflows, file size increases from standard definition to high definition, and multiple distribution venues are replacing physical distribution with digital media distribution and securing that chain of events and processes is a key requirement.