Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2003 22:52:56 -0400
From: Lorrie Cranor <lorrie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Hollywood Faces Online Piracy, but it Looks Like an Inside Job
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
John Schwartz has an article in Monday's NYTimes that mentions a paper
that my colleagues and I will be presenting at TPRC and the upcoming ACM
DRM workshop.
The NYTimes article:
Hollywood Faces Online Piracy, but it Looks Like an Inside Job
by John Schwartz
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/15/technology/15MOVI.html
Paper:
Analysis of Security Vulnerabilities in the Movie Production and
Distribution Process
Simon Byers, Lorrie Cranor, Eric Cronin, Dave Kormann, and Patrick McDaniel
http://lorrie.cranor.org/pubs/drm03.html
Abstract:
Unauthorized copying of movies is a major concern for the motion picture
industry. While unauthorized copies of movies have been distributed via
portable physical media for some time, low-cost, high-bandwidth Internet
connections and peer-to-peer file sharing networks provide highly
efficient distribution media. Many movies are showing up on file sharing
networks shortly after, and in some cases prior to, theatrical release. It
has been argued that the availability of unauthorized copies directly
affects theater attendance and DVD sales, and hence represents a major
financial threat to the movie industry. Our research attempts to determine
the source of unauthorized copies by studying the availability and
characteristics of recent popular movies in file sharing networks. We
developed a data set of 312 popular movies and located one or more samples
of 183 of these movies on file sharing networks, for a total of 285 movie
samples. 77% of these samples appear to have been leaked by industry
insiders. Most of our samples appeared on file sharing networks prior to
their official consumer DVD release date. Indeed, of the movies that had
been released on DVD as of the time of our study, only 5% first appeared
after their DVD release date on a web site that indexes file sharing
networks, indicating that consumer DVD copying currently represents a
relatively minor factor compared with insider leaks. We perform a brief
analysis of the movie production and distribution process and identify
potential security vulnerabilities that may lead to unauthorized copies
becoming available to those who may wish to redistribute them. Finally, we
offer recommendations forreducing security vulnerabilities in the movie
production and distribution process.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lorrie Faith Cranor <lorrie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
AT&T Labs-Research, Shannon Laboratory
180 Park Ave. Room A205, Florham Park, NJ 07932
http://lorrie.cranor.org/ 973-360-8607