© watermark: closing the analog hole

The paper is about copy protection and watermarking. It presents a way to close the analog hole through a new concept, called the © watermark. The dawn of the digital world has also boosted the piracy of digital content. Current responses are suitable as long as the content remains digital. Unfortunately, the weakest link in the delivery chain is the analog video or audio link. Pirates, as dishonest users, can play the content, record these analog signals, digitise them, and distribute the files. We call this threat the analog hole. The © watermark offers a more robust method to close analog hole piracy. It has a simpler trust model than current solutions. Compared with current watermarked-based approaches, this new concept offers better resistance to malicious attacks.