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macromedia flash flashcom : Piracy and screen capture


animboom
2/24/2005 7:00:19 PM
We are using Flash Communication server for it's streaming capabilities and
security features. I've noticed several people saying they will just use a free
screen capture software like Hypercam or Camtasia to copy our video. I've tried
this and it works... Doh! I've tried capturing the screen with Real plalyer for
tests and Real player records Black! Is there anything we can do to derive a
similar effect on our video. We feel a bit open to piracy and want to nip it in
the butt.

Does macromedia have any intentions of implementing this type of security
feature as it seems like a ligitimate concern. After talking to Macromedia on
the phone I got nowhere. After speaking to Real Networks they said this featue
has been implemented for a long time as "that's the point, to offer secure
video."

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-Animboom
Muffin Research
2/25/2005 1:34:51 PM
I assume you are streaming video from a public site, because you can't protect
the player from unauthorised access. In any case the stream itself can be
intercepted unless encrypted end to end with https (see link below)

If it is a public site can you not just add a small watermark to the video (or
a semi transparent layer in flash) so that if someone copies your content by
screen grabbing it's obvious?


http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/mx/flashcom/articles/ticket/fcs_secure_ticket.p
df
Scrawl
2/25/2005 5:57:01 PM
[quoted text, click to view]

This is not so much a security feature but an effect of hardware supported
video playback.

Simply disabling hardware acceleration will allow you to screen capture Real
player content.

It seems that no matter what you implement in way of security, there will
always be a way around it - even if it means resorting to a tripod and video
camera.

-Scrawl

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