Researchers at Deakin University in Victoria and Aizu University in Japan have developed a new multimedia watermarking process they believe could help wipe out illegal music downloads. The new technology provides authorities with a breadcrumb trail back to the source of the piracy.
Lead researcher on the project, Associate Professor Yong Xiang, told the ABC the process works by hiding watermark data, such as the publisher’s name, signature, and logo, without affecting product quality.
“What we did was to enable music file owners and relevant law enforcement authorities to use a secret key to extract the watermark data from the watermarked multimedia object,” he said.
In other words, authorities will be able to use a key to unlock data hidden inside an illegally downloaded song to trace it back to the user who first shared it online.
While watermarking has been in use for some time, Xiang told Power Retail that his team’s software is not only harder to crack, but also doesn’t affect the quality of the files – something previous watermarking technology has not been able to achieve.
According to Professor Xiang, 95 percent of music downloads in Australia are illegal, with about 2.8 million Australians using illegal file sharing networks and the country regularly topping lists of the world’s biggest pirates, particularly for TV shows like “Game of Thrones“.
“Improvements to technology have been enormously positive for the music industry in that artists’ music is now more readily available to consumers all around the world, but unfortunately advances in locking such music away from illegal pirates has not kept up at the same speed,” Professor Xiang said.
Music promoter Michael Gudinski says illegal downloads are an ongoing “bugbear” of the music industry, and said he welcomes anything that could possibly ease rampant piracy. Professor Xiang said researchers are now looking for a corporate sponsor that can make their technology a reality.
