Sigma DRM, the solution to protect digital content copyright developed by Thu Do Multimedia, has become the first made-in-Vietnam DRM solution to meet international security standards by Cartesian. first made in vietnam drm solution meets international security standards With this, Thu Do Multimedia JSC is the first technology company in Southeast Asia to have a solution to protect digital content copyright certified by international standards.
In 2019, Thu Do Multimedia announced the successful research and development of digital content copyright protection solutions by combining DRM (Digital Right Management) and Finger Print Online (solution for detecting re-streaming video sources). This is a solution to protect digital content copyright on the internet environment developed by Vietnamese engineers.
Thu Do Multimedia is a Vietnamese company that has successfully developed DRM solutions and solutions to detect infringements of re-streaming video content on the internet environment.
In December 2019, the digital copyright protection solution (commercially known as Sigma DRM) was also tested and audited by Cartesian to meet international security standards. Thu Do Multimedia is the first company in Vietnam and Southeast Asia and one of six Asian companies to achieve this certification. Cartesian has now certified DRM solutions for all 20 DRM Companies worldwide.
Thu Do Multimedia not only named Vietnam as one of the Top 20 global businesses in developing DRM solutions but also creates opportunities for Vietnamese content owners to apply this domestic solution to curtail the rampant digital content piracy plaguing them.
First made-in-Vietnam DRM solution meets international security standards 2
Talking about the reason why Thu Do Multimedia decided to invest in the research and development of this DRM + Finger Print Online project, CEO Nguyen Ngoc Han said, “In the past two years, Thu Do Multimedia has been the only company that has fully developed OTT television solutions in Vietnam. We realise that copyright protection for digital content (including protection of television content, videos, music, and e-books among others) is of paramount importance.
“Moreover, almost all content owners in the world refuse to co-operate with Vietnamese content providers as they believe they cannot protect their content. The most recent case was the European Cup which was not allowed to be boradcast in Vietnam in 2017 due to the lack of copyright security.”
In order to develop an encryption solution, in addition to requiring software security experience, a deep understanding of the terminals is also a mandatory condition because the entire decrypting process takes place at the hardware side. Moreover, the number of devices in this field ranges from mobile devices to large screens in homes or in cinemas. For that reason, only large companies in the world, such as Apple, Microsoft, and IBM, participated in DRM solution development. In the television DRM segment, there are only about 10 global companies currently developing and providing this solution, such as Nagravision, Conax, and Viacess.
Thu Do Multimedia’s passing the accreditation of Cartesian brought the Sigma DRM into the list of 20 DRM solutions meeting global security standards. This is an important achievement for Thu Do Multimedia, as a proof of its capabilities in the field of security development in Vietnam, and opens up opportunities for Sigma DRM solutions to reach out and provide services to television companies and digital content providers in Vietnam and overseas.
The successful development and owning of DRM technology by a Vietnamese company is an important achievement with the rampant copyright infringements in Vietnam. To combat this, besides integrating content protection solutions (DRM), the applying of Finger Print Online solution to detect pirated video sources and prevent content from being recorded with screen recording devices are shaping up as essential tools.
“In terms of security capabilities, Sigma DRM solution is equivalent to solutions being offered globally,” said Nguyen Ngoc Han.
The successful development of a DRM solution by a local company will benefit digital content owners and providers in Vietnam. To protect copyright, most Vietnamese content providers are now applying foreign DRM security solutions that come at a high cost.
With the success of Sigma DRM solution, Thu Do Multimedia is confident in bringing international-standard solutions to Vietnam. In addition, having a local server dispels the connectivity issues in getting a security key from overseas servers. Additionally, co-ordinating with a local company would offer advantages in negotiations, support, and upgrades.
From July 2019, the combination of Sigma DRM and Finger Print Online has been applied for VTVcab ON – the OTT TV service of Vietnam cable television corporation (VTVcab).
Digital rights management (DRM) is known to be necessary when considering a strategy for intellectual property protection or content security.
Companies and businesses in a wide variety of sectors have come to realize the value of their content, of their intellectual property, and are looking for solutions that effectively prevent theft, infringement, and content piracy, while still being able to offer a seamless user experience to their customers.
Despite their obvious need to implement a solution that both secures content and ensures ease of use, it is not uncommon for decision-makers within companies to remain somewhat skeptical or weary of digital rights management. The reason behind this is the fact that digital rights management is laden with misconceptions and erroneous assumptions that spread among those who most need it. To help you avoid making these assumptions when making the important decision to protect your content, we have taken the time to outline the three most common misconceptions we have found when it comes to DRM.
1. DRM is a Complicated Solution for Content Protection
It is understandable that, without possessing any previous knowledge, digital rights management might seem as a complicated way to go about protecting your content. It can be overwhelming to think about implementing a digital rights management system if you are not well educated on the matter, or do not have access to the right kind of information pertaining to this subject.
DRM essentially works by implementing different sets of policies that allow for the prevention of piracy and the protection of valuable intellectual property. Specific control techniques or procedures are applied at different levels depending on how sensitive the content to be protected is. In first place, files are uploaded and subsequently encrypted to prevent unauthorized access and copying. Secondly, additional policies are included that provide a higher, more restrictive degree of protection. These files are made available to users by the content provider, who has complete control over how content is accessed.
2. DRM Necessarily Requires External Apps or Plug-ins
Another widely distributed misconception regarding DRM is the notion that, in order to implement any DRM solution and access the content it protects, external apps or plug-ins are necessary.
Again, this supposition is inaccurate, while there is DRM solution software that does require the installation of plug-ins in order for users to access content, there are quality systems that enable full integration with whatever system you already use such as learning management systems, content management systems,
eCommerce systems, document management, Active Directory and SQL databases, etc. The capability to fully integrate your digital rights management solution with your existing platforms allows you to provide true single sign-on capabilities to your users.
Moreover, when your system is fully integrated with the DRM software you choose to use and you offer single sign-on, your users will most likely be unaware that your content is being protected, making their experience simpler and more enjoyable.
3. DRM Prevents Users From Accessing Content on Different Devices
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There is confusion surrounding device limits and restrictions as one of the policies included in a Digital Rights Management strategy. It is a common mistake to think that when setting DRM policies, your content will only be accessible to your customers from a single device, regardless of them owning the rights to it. While it certainly is true that you can (and should) set a limit on the amount of devices a single user can access content, it is entirely up to you to decide if you want to set a unique device restriction, or if you’d like to be more lenient and allow content to be accessed from multiple devices.
Having the option to set device limits not only allows you to have control over your content and the way it is accessed, but also will give you the opportunity to set different price levels for those who require more freedom of access. Users who pay a higher fee can be allowed to access the content in multiple devices or be allowed to clear their device history provided they reach their limit. Conversely, customers who do not wish to pay more than the basic fee, would only be able to access from a single device.
4. DRM is Restrictive and Hinders User Experience
Referring to end-user experience, there is the general idea that relying on a digital rights management solution to protect your content will inevitably result in very restrictive practices and a resulting unpleasant experience for your customers. The notion seems to be that controlling access to your content and requiring users to provide credentials in order to access it will be a highly uncomfortable process for them. However, if you rely on software that is current and of high quality, this will hardly be the case.
Ideally, your DRM solution will allow for full integration with the system you are already using, which is the first step to providing an excellent user experience. Even with more strict digital rights management policies such as print and copy restrictions, device limits, and custom watermarks, you can ensure that authorized users have comfortable access to your content by easily adding, deleting or modifying user groups and the content in them, or offering a central (fully customizable) user portal through which you can securely distribute your content. Your authorized audience can easily access all content associated with their account in one convenient, yet secure, place. Full customization of your colours and logo, as well as your URL, provides the best, most seamless experience for your users.
5. Customers Consider DRM a Hurdle & Will Not Pay for the Right to Access Content
Lastly, and perhaps one of the issues that most effectively prevent companies from adopting a digital rights management solution, is the idea that DRM is unpopular among most users, considered to be complicated and an unnecessary trouble in their experience as customers. Therefore, they will not pay for a license to your content or the right to access it. In short, protecting your intellectual property and revenue will eventually harm your company as it will deter customers from buying your content. This is far from the truth, if you provide your customers with a seamless user experience, and help them understand the different benefits they could get from the various subscription packages you may offer, digital rights management will not be an inconvenience to them.
The key is to offer simplicity for your end-users, while maintaining your content exclusive and secured. If you implement a DRM system that is high quality and developed for the purpose of helping both the content provider and the end-users, you can ensure that your customers will not be deterred by the fact that your content is protected with DRM. Moreover, you can adjust the restrictions you add to it according to each subscription plan. Those who would like more lenient access to content can opt for the highest price-point, whereas those who are not interested in having, for example, access from multiple devices, can then purchase the most basic plan. This allows you to use DRM as a way to not only protect but increase your revenue.
Avoid Misconceptions, Protect Your Content
Being aware of these common misconceptions will help you in the successful implementation of a DRM solution that will thoroughly protect your content and, consequently, your revenue. Digital rights management does not have to be complicated, dependent on external apps or plug-ins, or detrimental to your user experience. With a quality content protection solution, you can at once ensure that your valuable content is thoroughly protected and guarantee that your users will be able to access it in a simple, straightforward manner.
In an increasingly collaborative work environment, it’s more important now than ever before that your organization has the highest level of visibility and control possible over its data. While knowing how to choose the right data security solutions such as managed file transfer, data classification, and more is a challenge in and of itself, the versatility of a Digital Rights Management tool like Sigma DRM/Multi-DRM could prove to be a fantastic starting point for many organizations. These are four ways your organization can utilize a Digital Rights Management tool in its data security strategy.
Safely Collaborate in the Cloud
Being that the workplace is more dispersed than it’s ever been, cloud technologies have become an integral component of organizations’ digital transformations. More specifically, organizations are now taking advantage of cloud collaboration platforms like Box, Dropbox, and SharePoint to make teamwork in remote environments easier and more realistic. Sigma DRM/Multi-DRM Digital Rights Management ensures files can be shared through these platforms securely by applying granular controls to the data and following it wherever it goes after it lands at its intended destination via a managed file transfer solution. This means your sensitive data can only be seen, forwarded, and edited by those with specific permissions to do so.
Mitigate Compliance Risks
While your organization’s primary data security goal should be to prevent a data breach before one ever occurs, mistakes can still happen. When sensitive information is mistakenly sent to the wrong person or an employee’s credentials are compromised, for example, a breach can occur despite an organization’s best efforts to implement preventative measures. And for organizations that are required to comply with data security laws and regulations, these mistakes can be incredibly costly.
Thankfully, Sigma DRM/Multi-DRM has the ability to follow data wherever it travels with its always-on security. Access to any files containing PII, PCI, or PHI will always require authentication, and just in case sensitive information gets into the wrong hands, access can be revoked in real-time at the user level. This allows organizations to contain and mitigate breaches swiftly and prevent security incidents from growing into catastrophic events.
Apply Your Organization’s Data Security Policies to Your Data
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Organizations create and share more data than they ever have before, and one of the first steps in protecting that data is understanding what types of data your organization has, how sensitive the information is, and the business value it holds. Data Classification solutions like Titus and Boldon James are an intuitive means of labeling an organization’s data, facilitating the location of specific data by end-users, and preventing data loss.
Because end-users handle so many different types of data, though, data security policy management can be a big hassle, and it can be deceivingly easy for employees to fail to follow proper procedures. By integrating one of our Data Classification solutions with Sigma DRM/Multi-DRM, end-users can have the power to apply encryption, granular access control, and policy management to documents and data at rest based on classification level.
Control Your Sensitive Data as It Travels
Securely share video content with DRM
While it’s certainly important to protect your organization’s data at rest, securing sensitive data in transit is just as critical. Oftentimes, though, protecting data as it travels is much easier said than done—particularly without sacrificing efficiency. While utilizing a Managed File Transfer solution like GoAnywhere on its own would prove to be effective, combining this solution withSigma DRM/Multi-DRM’s Digital Rights Management will take your data protection to the next level without hindering workflows.
Our solution goes beyond traditional file-level encryption by allowing end-users to automatically apply digital rights management to every file. Employees will not be required to install any software, never have to remember to apply protections, and can manipulate access controls even after files have been sent outside of the organization.
Data Security Solutions
Sigma DRM/Multi-DRM solution are a great place to start in your efforts to secure your organization’s data, but this pairing doesn’t also have to be the place to end. To find the solutions that make the most sense for your organization’s needs, begin by reading our Data Security Use Cases Guide, or, speak with one of our knowledgeable experts.
In this day and age, nearly all of our daily activities involve technology and the internet. We use it for recreation, entertainment, academic purposes, business, and many more. Seeing as the internet is so involved in our lives, many people use it to share or host their digital assets. This helps them gain access to a wider audience and expand the reach of these assets.
Sadly, putting your assets on the internet means that it is prone to several issues such as plagiarism, unfair use, and content theft among several other things. To prevent this from happening, many choose to invest in precautionary measures ahead of time. This includes something called DRM.
What is DRM?
DRM is a method used to regulate and control the way copyrighted material is shared or used on digital platforms. You may be wondering at this point, what does DRM mean? It stands for Digital Rights Management.
DRM exists to protect your digital assets from being illegally distributed or copied. If you are unsure of what this means, Digital assets are any type of material stored digitally or virtually. This includes things such as e-books, games, audio, videos, along with many other types of content that we utilize every day. They are most commonly protected by Copyright. However, in some cases, this isn’t enough.
These days, many content creators such as musicians, filmmakers, and authors fall victim to the unfair use of their material. Due to the significant advancements in technology throughout the years, the process of interacting with each other on digital platforms is easier than ever. People have access to certain resources and methods that allow them to replicate, distribute, or modify copyrighted content within a few simple clicks. DRM provides a solid wall of protection to prevent this from happening.
How Does DRM Work?
Those who pay for these assets are naturally the ones who get to maximize their features. However, users have come up with several ways to obtain the assets for free. Thus, Piracy remains one of the biggest issues that content creators find difficult to eliminate. This is why creators turn to DRM protection. In order to combat the increasing rates of theft and illegal distribution, innovative methods must be imposed to ensure that creators will always be one step ahead.
How Does DRM Work?
With how DRM is described, it comes off as a solution to issues that have already happened. In reality, it works to block illegal advances before they can become a threat. This is what makes DRM a reliable resource for protection. It enforces state-of-the-art codes and technology to regulate how the content can be used and who can access it.
Copyrighted material equipped with DRM is protected from:
Illegal documentation and distribution such as users sharing them via torrent websites, screenshots, screen recordings, and many more.
Use outside the designated area, meaning that the content will only be valid on certain regions, IP addresses, and devices.
Plagiarism, by including watermarks or other marks of ownership on the material to prevent users from printing or replicating them in other ways.
Use beyond the allotted time limit, only allowing users to take advantage of the material a certain number of times or during the period of its validity.
DRM Use Cases
Although you may not realize it, many of the features that you encounter while using your favourite applications are a form of Digital Asset Management. Mainstream media such as TV series, movies, books, and music are all copyrighted material that users can enjoy for a certain price. To shield this content from being used for unjust purposes, companies and creators use various forms of Digital Asset Management.
Below are some of the most common ways in which DRM is used:
– Blocking Documentation Methods or Software – Video streaming services such as Netflix are only accessible through a paid subscription. Users can take screenshots or screengrabs while enjoying the content. However, the results will only show a black screen once they have been saved to the device.
– Setting Limitations – Certain audio streaming platforms such as Spotify or The Apple iTunes Music Store set a limit on how many devices can utilize their services at the same time. For iTunes users, downloaded songs come with a history of their purchase and usage to ensure that only the valid devices can benefit from them.
– Eliminating Plagiarized Works or Copies – Digital Assets are prone to be replicated into counterfeit copies, often sold at a cheaper price. This prompt several forms of loss on the owner’s end, which is why they invest in DRM protection to trace these products and eliminate them swiftly.
– Maintaining User Privacy – DRM is a useful tool when it comes to upholding confidentiality. It can track which users have viewed the material and when it was last opened. It can also restrict its access so that it will only be available to users that have gained access directly from the owner.
– Security Services – DRM eliminates the possibility of users tampering with the asset’s software. One example is Microsoft, wherein they regulate access by imposing a special key that users must input before accessing their services. Microsoft specifically uses a feature called PlayReady, which blocks any unauthorized use of their products and software.
Pros of DRM
There are many reasons why companies and copyright holders choose to invest in DRM protection. Aside from protection, it also offers some benefits that owners would not be able to achieve on their own. Some of these advantages include:
Emphasizes Ownership
Many users grab copyrighted work and claim it as their own, taking the credit, praise, and even profits away from the original owner. This can be seen in content such as digital artwork, songs, e-books, and more. This is unfair towards the copyright holder, as many of them spend countless hours developing and improving these assets before they are even launched.
DRM protection is often equipped with advanced software that is able to scan through the internet and identify any form of work that bears resemblance to the original material. It resolves this issue and prevents it from happening by scanning virtual platforms for copies and taking them down.
Educates Users to Consume Content Wisely
Many of us are guilty of skipping the terms and conditions when we are making our accounts or purchasing something. The same goes for copyright policies. With DRM, copyright holders and consumers are provided with a direct mode of communication to each other. This way, consumers will know what they must do and what they need to avoid when using copyrighted material. Since DRM enables owners to track the consumers’ activity, they can also send out warnings or reminders whenever they detect suspicious activity taking place.
Minimizes Loss and Secures Profit
Counterfeit products are incredibly common in the online market. They profit off the works of other people, usually replicating their content with lower quality resources and selling them for a cheaper price. Unfortunately, many people choose to entertain copies instead of the original since they think it is a “good deal.” DRM quickly tracks these products and has them removed to ensure that copyright holders receive the credit and profit they are due.
DRM also works with large companies to prevent Piracy. Video and audio streaming platforms are one of the main targets of piracy since users can document the contents and share it with an unauthorized platform. This also happens with paid games and subscription-based applications, wherein they are cracked and shared for free on certain websites. With DRM, screen recordings and screenshots are often prohibited. The full services of an asset can also be limited only to those who are paying for it.
Maintains Confidentiality Between Owners and Consumers
DRM enforces strict methods to protect the privacy of users and owners alike. When it comes to providing and handling sensitive information on the internet, you must be sure that the platform you are transacting on is secure and free from threats. DRM makes sure that your information is completely safe, as it allows you to manipulate when the information can be accessed, where it will be used, and who can view it.
Cons of DRM
Although Digital Rights Management is a great resource to have on your side when it comes to guarding your property, it also comes with its disadvantages.
Limits Enjoyment and Causes Inconvenience
Seeing as DRM strictly monitors and controls how users can use the assets, consumers do not get to use the content in the way they want. There are times wherein users encounter certain inconveniences, such as not being able to make copies of documents for backup and personal use. Handicapped consumers also face the challenge of not being able to use a screen reader, since DRM often blocks the usage of third-party features of applications.
It is Not Piracy Proof
No matter how secure your DRM protection is, there will always be a way to crack it. This is why piracy is still a large problem among content creators and companies, even though many of them have already entrusted their digital assets to DRM. It is definitely invincible or impossible to overcome, as many unauthorized users are becoming well versed with the way DRM protection is programmed. This only means that DRM software must continue to improve moving forward to remain at an advantage.
For various forms of content, companies often strive to achieve maximum views and impressions, particularly when it comes to marketing materials, advertisements, social media posts, and press releases. However, there exist specific types of content for which companies seek to restrict access to only ‘authorized’ individuals or organizations. This category includes educational content, training manuals, design specifications, research reports, price sheets, financial documents, board materials, and more. Such content demands a degree of protection and control to safeguard its integrity and confidentiality.
In this article, we will elucidate eight distinct reasons why you should contemplate the adoption of a content protection and digital rights management (DRM) solution. These solutions play a pivotal role in ensuring the security and controlled access of diverse types of content.
1. To Protect Revenue Streams
Content can make money for many companies, like associations, schools, research firms, and others who publish stuff. Whether you make money by selling eBooks, research reports, training videos, or through memberships, you must keep your digital stuff safe from people who aren’t supposed to see it.
If you don’t protect your stuff, it could be easily shared, printed, copied, or given away for free, and you’ll lose money. Even if you put your stuff on a secure website or system, you’re only securing the place where the stuff is, not the stuff itself.
Good content protection and DRM software help you control who can see, share, download, or print your stuff. This means only people who pay for it can access it, so you can keep your money safe and even make more!
2. To Increase ROI and Profit
Making content that people like and that makes money from sales, subscriptions, or memberships can cost a lot. It takes a bunch of time, money, and other stuff to create. But don’t waste it! Make sure you keep your investment safe and your profits up by protecting this kind of content.
If you’re not making as much money as you think you should be or not getting the money you wanted in return, don’t blame the folks who made the content. It’s not the writers, designers, or the marketing team’s fault. It might just be that people are getting your content without paying for it. Maybe a really important research report, a regular document, or a training video accidentally ended up on a social media site. Or perhaps those licenses you sold for one person are actually being used by whole companies, which means you’re missing out on money from selling bigger licenses.
The thing is, unless you keep your content safe and in control, your customers or members might share it with others for free, and that cuts into your profits. Content protection and digital rights management software can help stop this from happening. It makes sure that only the folks who paid for your content get to see it, and it sticks to the rules you’ve set.
3. To Protect Intellectual Property (IP)
Intellectual property (IP) is a term that covers a lot of different things. It could be a patent, something with copyright, training materials, educational stuff, market reports, data you use to make decisions, price reports, and content in text, video, or audio. All of this is intellectual property, and it needs to be kept safe, controlled, and tracked.
Some people think that just registering their IP with things like patents, trademarks, or copyrights is enough to keep it safe. But that’s just the start. Registering your IP doesn’t stop hackers, pirates, competitors, or others from using your stuff without permission and sharing it.
To really protect your digital content, you need something called file-level content protection and digital rights management (DRM). This stops all sorts of people from getting into your content and leaking it.
The good news is that modern DRM solutions don’t have to be hard for the people who want to use your content. You can choose a solution that doesn’t make them download extra stuff like plugins or apps. They can access your protected content through a secure custom-made portal, a learning system, an online store, an association management system, a content management system, or any other system you like. It’s all about keeping your intellectual property safe and making it easy for the people who should see it.
4. To Earn More Revenue Through Multi-Tiered Subscriptions
The subscription business model is becoming more popular, and many businesses that used to sell products for a one-time “forever” purchase are switching to selling subscriptions. These subscriptions can be monthly, yearly, or for a specific period. While the subscription model has its advantages over one-time sales, there are some important steps to take if you want to make more money. One of these steps is offering different subscription levels and prices.
If you provide various subscription levels with different prices and unique services or options for each level, you can increase your revenue. If you don’t offer these pricing options, you might lose customers to competitors who already do.
When you sell content as part of a subscription, you can control access by setting time limits that match the subscription period. However, there are other ways to manage access using Digital Rights Management (DRM) controls. For a lower-priced subscription, you can limit the number of files a subscriber can access, control how many times they can open or print your content, or restrict access to just one device or IP address. For a higher-priced subscription, you can provide access to more files and allow users to view the content on multiple devices, and so on.
By using an advanced DRM solution, you can customize your subscription plans with different DRM controls for each subscription level. This flexibility helps you cater to the needs of different customers and maximize your revenue potential.
5. To Gain More Members and Membership Revenue
Many businesses, including associations and non-profit organizations, offer valuable content to attract new members and increase their membership numbers. However, once these members access and download the content they want, they may decide not to renew their membership or cancel it altogether. Alternatively, some people might sign up for a less expensive single-user membership and then share their login details with friends, colleagues, or others from their organization. This sharing means you miss out on potential revenue.
This loss of members and membership revenue can be avoided by implementing a content protection and DRM solution. Such a solution allows you to protect individual content files and apply different DRM rules for various membership types. For instance, you could enforce strict policies like limiting access to one device and no downloads for individual members who pay a smaller fee. Meanwhile, you could offer more lenient policies, such as allowing access on ten devices and unlimited downloads, for corporate-level members. You can even introduce additional subscription tiers for both individual and corporate memberships.
Remember that if you leave your content unprotected for one member, they can easily download, copy, and potentially share it with thousands of others. By safeguarding your content and applying different access controls for different types of members, you can actually increase your revenue from your valuable content.
6. To Restrict Unauthorized Access
Content such as trade secrets, design specs, board documents, price lists, internal manuals, and other confidential or sensitive types of content are designed to only be seen by a specific audience and perhaps for only a limited time. This type of content can be highly prone to unauthorized sharing, insider theft, or other type of digital leaks. A digital rights management (DRM) solution can help you protect this type of content from potential threats as you can grant access to only the specified audience with certain restrictions placed on the content (no printing, no copying, no sharing) or certain limits imposed on the user (device limits, IP address limits, open limits). You can also control the access with expiry dates or revoke access at any time if you suspect any fraud or malfeasance.
To Restrict Unauthorized Access
7. To Prevent Password Sharing
Many people believe that protecting their content with a strong password will keep it safe from unauthorized access. However, even the toughest passwords can be easily shared with others, allowing anyone with that password to gain access. According to a report by Yubico in 2019, two out of three individuals share passwords with colleagues to access accounts.
The most effective way to tackle password sharing is to implement Digital Rights Management (DRM). A comprehensive DRM solution like Vitrium goes beyond standard authentication methods and lets content owners have precise control at the file level, assigning access rights to individuals or groups. This granular control includes things like setting limits on the number of devices, IP addresses, print access, and even restricting access based on location (like country and state).
For instance, imagine you’ve given a recent subscriber access with a one-device limit to view your content. Even if that person shares their password with a friend or colleague, the second person won’t get access because of the limit you’ve set. If you choose not to have such strict limits, you can still refer to detailed user activity logs in your DRM software. These logs provide information about who’s accessing your content, from which IP address, using which device, and more.
Good DRM solutions also offer detailed analytics reports that let you dig deeper. You can see which users spend the most time with your content, what pages they’ve read, how long they’ve watched a video, and much more. This way, you have a better understanding of how your content is being used and who your most engaged users are.
8. To Prevent Content Piracy
Digital piracy continues to pose an ongoing threat to all types of content, regardless of its format. Back in the days of the second generation of cellular networks (2G), when data transmission systems couldn’t handle complex data like videos, piracy was rampant. For some, the primary motive behind piracy was to access expensive content without paying for it. Others were driven by the desire to possess and store files on their local hard drives.
With advancements in technology, such as cloud storage, improved streaming capabilities, and widespread access to broadband internet and 4G devices, many experts believed that piracy would decline. It appeared that even pirates might prefer subscribing to content services like Netflix for a reasonable monthly fee rather than dealing with the costs and hassles of storing large amounts of data locally. Consequently, numerous content providers adopted the subscription model, leading to the growth of subscription-based businesses.
However, the proliferation of content subscriptions has resulted in users having to subscribe to multiple apps to access the content they desire. In many cases, this means spending as much as they did before, if not more. This situation has rekindled the motivation for piracy. According to estimates from The Global Innovation Policy Center, global online piracy costs the U.S. economy a substantial $29.2 billion in lost revenue annually.
To safeguard your content from pirates, it’s crucial to employ robust security measures. These include military-grade encryption and various DRM controls such as device limits, IP address restrictions, location-based restrictions, print limitations, expiry dates, and more. Additionally, monitoring and analyzing how your content is being used can provide valuable insights and complement the protection and control measures you’ve implemented. Protecting your content and understanding its usage are both essential in the battle against piracy.
In conclusion, implementing a Content Protection and DRM solution is not merely a prudent choice; it’s a strategic necessity for content creators and distributors in today’s digital ecosystem. With the persistent specter of unauthorized access and piracy, investing in DRM technology becomes an essential step toward ensuring long-term success and sustainability in the digital content landscape. Protecting your content and revenue streams while maximizing profitability becomes more achievable with the right DRM solution by your side.
A big part of how today’s digital content economy functions is through digital rights management, where content owners use digital asset management systems and other DRM tools to require payment for access to their material.
While DRM tools are great for locking down content, they also deliver additional benefits to organizations that use them.
This article explores the benefits of implementing digital rights management software, and how DRM tools can help organizations across a wide spectrum of industries stay compliant with licensing agreements, protect profits, and keep sensitive information out of the hands of unauthorized users.
What is digital rights management?
Digital rights management (DRM) is technology created to prevent illegal use, theft, and distribution of digital content. DRM protects digital content by employing multiple strategies to eliminate methods for creating duplicates of protected files or sending those files to others.
DRM solutions are multifaceted and IP holders can configure them to meet a variety of use cases. Limitations that organizations can implement via DRM include limits on sharing, printing, forwarding, downloading, saving copies, editing, or maintaining access to content outside a defined (subscription or rental) window.
Why is it important to protect digital content?
Because of the open architecture of the internet, most files by default can be downloaded and shared freely. But marketable digital assets — those designed to be sold or licensed to businesses and consumers — cannot remain marketable under these conditions. And businesses creating these assets can’t remain solvent without a way to limit transmission by requiring purchase or subscription for access to this content.
The benefits of digital rights management
For rights holders and others on the income-earning side of digital content, digital rights management delivers numerous benefits. In some cases, it singlehandedly enables profitability and allows for the continued viability of digital business models.
1. Protection of intellectual property
First, digital rights management protects intellectual property.In an online-first (or even online-only) world, many businesses profit solely or primarily from digital goods. The most obvious example is TV and film content.
While you can still buy movies on disc, the numbers show that most people don’t anymore. From 2011 to 2021, the total number of annual physical video transactions dropped nearly 5 billion, from 6.1 to 1.2 billion.
Consumers now pay for a digital copy of that video content, or they use streaming services they’re already paying for.
Without digital rights management, those downloaded files could be transferred, stored, given away, resold— anything you can do with pictures and video, you could do with the latest movie or Netflix series.
For businesses that rely on sales of or subscriptions to their digital content, DRM is often a necessary component of protecting that intellectual property and the profits the IP generates.
2. Prevents unauthorized use of content
Even in today’s market where businesses have access to DRM systems, an estimated 20% of potential revenue on video content is still lost to piracy.
DRM in most cases prevents users from getting their hands on a usable, transferable high-fidelity copy of whatever file or digital asset is being protected. And by preventing users from stealing this content, DRM reduces the possibility of unauthorized uses of that content.
3. Safeguards income streams
How Digital Rights Management Solution Benefits A Business
Additionally, digital rights management helps to safeguard income streams. When users cannot gain free, illegal access, they are left with a choice, to either gain legal access (which typically involves payment) or to go without.
Preventing piracy through DRM ensures more people will pay for a digital asset when they have no other easy option to access it.
4. Educates users about copyright and intellectual property
Part of the problem with online piracy is that users don’t always understand how copyright and intellectual property laws work.
Many who pirate content have a cursory understanding that what they’re doing is vaguely unethical and maybe illegal. When users run into DRM limitations, those guardrails can help to further understand what’s okay and what’s not.
5. Ensures regulatory compliance
Digital rights management is a valuable tool in ensuring regulatory compliance. This is a part of why users in the U.K. and the U.S. have different experiences of Netflix (and virtually every other streaming service with a multinational presence).
Copyright law and content licensing are not universal. Different countries and regions have different regulations and laws, which content distributors must follow if they are to operate in a given country. Additionally, a copyright holder could license content to one group in North America but another in the EU.
Let’s imagine a TV show produced in Australia. Let’s say a local distributor has rights to an Aussie-produced show, but Netflix purchases the rights to distribute in the U.S. Netflix operates in Australia — but it cannot show this TV show there. DRM (specifically, geolocation) is one tool Netflix uses to limit content and ensure compliance.
But DRM isn’t limited to entertainment.
Healthcare records are protected, surrounded by a litany of local, national, and global regulations. DRM can be used to lock down electronic health records and ensure compliance with the relevant regulations.
6. Enables content localization and enhanced analytics
The other less visible side of geolocation within DRM is how it benefits both customers and content providers. By recognizing where a user is, global distributors can localize content to that user. In some cases this looks like a different default language, but it could cover numerous other elements, like branding, required display information (such as content ratings), and default currency.
7. Improved data security
Traditional data security is entirely credentials based. If a user can establish their credentials (via one or more factors of authentication), they can access the data. If a user cannot establish credentials, they cannot gain access.
This system works better when organizations use two-factor authentication (2FA) or multifactor authentication (MFA), but it focuses on only one part of the problem with data security, access.
Data security has at least two facets, though: access and control. Credentials grant access, but what if you want finer control on what users do with that access?
Digital rights management has a role to play here. Instead of leaving files wide open for anyone with credential access to use as they please, DRM protection could limit what those with access can do with the materials they can access.
For example, imagine a sensitive company document or one with confidential information. You may need to control access, allowing various users to have differing kinds of access, with some in each of these categories:
Full access (can download the file)
Edit access (can make changes to the file but cannot download)
View access (can see and use the file but cannot download or make changes)
This is one relatively simple example, and DRM technologies can go even deeper and more granular as needed.
Who benefits from digital rights management?
Digital rights management can be used in numerous contexts and for many purposes, so the list of groups and industries that can benefit from DRM is long and diverse.
Authors, composers, content creators: Anyone creating original works of intellectual property can benefit from DRM as they seek to monetize their creative works. (Implementing DRM software on the solo or solopreneur level can be logistically burdensome, though some DRM protections may be available through popular distribution networks.)
OTT and VOD digital media providers (streaming services): Preventing downloads and ensuring the right people access the right content is core to the business model.
Video games, mobile apps, and software applications: Limiting use to paying customers is vital to commercial viability in some software and video gaming contexts.
Businesses dealing with confidential documents, trade secrets, and otherwise proprietary or sensitive data
Digital music distributors and streaming services: Artists and copyright holders require payment for sales, downloads, and streams; DRM systems help contain music so that more of these streams are counted.
Of course, this is just a sample list; the real-world use cases are more numerous and more varied than those listed here.
Best practices for effective digital rights management
Implementing DRM effectively is not always simple. You need to do it in a way that meets your company’s needs and obligations without alienating customers through poor user experience or pushing end-users to alternate (including illegal) methods.
As you build a digital rights management strategy for your business, consider these best practices:
Understand your customers, both internal and external: If DRM creates an obnoxious user experience, you’ll create an incentive to bypass it.
Take a nuanced approach: Not every piece of content needs to be protected, and some pieces (free lead generators and advertising-oriented content) should never be.
Realize the downsides: Especially on the consumer level, DRM on fully purchased content (rather than rented or subscription-based) can create a negative experience for users and could leave them without long-term access to something they believe they own.
Prioritize scalability: Put yourself in a position where your company — and its DRM solutions — can grow.
Protect your intellectual property with Digital Element
Digital rights management is a powerful way to protect assets, reclaim lost sales, demonstrate compliance, and keep sensitive documents secure. Core to many DRM applications is a clear understanding of where users reside geographically.
Sigma DRM provides superior geolocation data and global IP solutions that power digital rights management on a global scale.
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