Content Owner Guidance Sought as ATIS Adds Security to IPTV DRM
GENEVA -- Better direction is needed from content owners as the ATIS digital rights management task force broadens its IPTV work to security in general. A security layer in IPTV is not seen in other video delivery systems, said ATIS IPTV Interoperability Forum Chairman Dan O'Callaghan of Verizon.
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Securing such a service is key to fixed-mobile convergence, O'Callaghan said. A common IP infrastructure differs from a cable network where a cable operator controls the physical coaxial cable and the carriers on it, he said. “Every single thing that the operator wants to tell his customer… you want to sign it and make sure it’s authentic.” For example, emergency alert notifications need to be signed to ensure they're authentic, he said.
Security becomes a huge issue with shared common IP infrastructure to a cell phone, PDA, laptop or set top box, O'Callaghan said. A content owner may be comfortable with releasing something over a very secure piece of the network, but may not allow the content to cross over to a part that is very loose, he said. In fixed-mobile convergence, “you're sending this anywhere you can route packets to, theoretically.”
Tracking may be needed to know if networks the content is traversing expose it in a way unacceptable to the content owner. The ITU IPTV focus group studied the point in network architecture where content might be watermarked, said focus group vice chairman Simon Jones of BT. That would allow a means of content traceability, Jones said: “It’s up to an operator and their relationship with a content provider as to whether that is an essential feature of the service, or not.”
The content community has not given very clear guidance on crucial DRM concepts, O'Callaghan said. Paramount, Columbia Pictures, and other content owners each have ideas of what DRM must be, he said. Individual perspectives currently rule. Widevine, NDS, Scientific Atlanta, Motorola and others involved in the ATIS work have spent years addressing content owners’ security concerns. They're chasing the “holy grail” of getting content owners comfortable enough to allow them to release content securely, he said. The IIF DRM task force is the first to acknowledge that content needs a model of rights, O'Callaghan said: “Networks meet only certain potential models.”