Recent research has shown that online piracy of TV shows and films is set to continue. In coming years, the loss in the industry will reportedly be worth over $50 billion. Such huge amounts are enough to warrant proper investigation as to how blockchain can help curb piracy. Experts in the crypto world seem to have no solutions yet though.
The Challenge that Blockchain Faces in Fighting Piracy
It has been established by many reports that piracy is mostly a behavioral issue. The CREATe report particularly pointed out that people share content unlawfully for a myriad of reasons. Some of the reasons could be ignorance, norms and even financial issues. This is why blockchain cannot effectively address the problem of content piracy.
The report indicates that none of the reasons identified were conclusive and a blockchain project would not be sufficient to stop piracy. In order to eliminate piracy, a combination of legal measures and technology would be sufficient. Blockchain will nevertheless be part of the solution in a number of ways.
Blockchain as an Enabler for Content Surveilance
Going by the latest cryptocurrency news, there are a number of programs that are currently in development to enable content surveillance. Vevue is particularly working on smart contracts for content surveillance. Blockchain will be part of the technology that will enable the tracking of content from its creation to the point where it is delivered to the consumers. The creators of this program say that technologies like AI will also be part of the solution. Blockchain itself will not be solely responsible for surveillance, it will only be an enabler for authenticating smart contracts.
Blockchain as a Tool for Digital Trademarks
Another key initiative that is helping fight piracy is digital watermarking. CustosTech is a tech company that has ventured into this area immensely. The firm helps intellectual property owners to gain the full worth of their property. The technology being applied has been around for quite a while. Digital forensic watermarks make it difficult to duplicate and share content that has copyright protection. Not only does the watermark make it difficult to recreate the content, it can be used to track the origin of a pirated product.
When blockchain is used in this system, it becomes possible to give rewards for media consumers who find and report pirated content. The rewards are in the form of Bitcoin and they are authenticated with the unique serial number that exists in every file that has been copyrighted. In this case, the blockchain infrastructure acts as a strengthening mechanism for the digital watermark framework.
Using Blockchain to Give Incentives to Consumers and for Rights Management
Finally, it is possible to fight piracy by giving incentives to consumers – especially in the gaming industry. Already, incentives in the form of ads exist in the gaming world where piracy is discouraged by allowing users to consume in-game ads. Blockchain can help in this area and Rawg has been actively trying to integrate token rewards for gamers. These tokens can be redeemed in form of money or other things.Â
A number of blockchain firms are also currently trying to bring universal rights management through a system that uniquely identifies files. Dot Blockchain Media has been leading in this area and their music files are already available in music stores.
