This article was published on September 15, 2012

TNW at IBC: Irdeto on tracking global piracy habits across the Web


TNW at IBC: Irdeto on tracking global piracy habits across the Web

The International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) took place in Amsterdam last week and The Next Web was there live streaming interviews with industry leaders throughout the event.

Fear not if you missed the live chats, we have a selection of interviews here on the site so that you can catch up with the future of broadcasting with us.

Part of the story for broadcasting digitally is the ability to copy and distribute material, with or without permission. Piracy is an ongoing battle where the demand for content is high and we see cases like Megaupload and The Pirate Bay making headlines as lawmakers and content producers try their best to find ways to shut these sites down.

Those may be high-profile names in the piracy battle, but the fact of the matter is that far more data and pirated content litters the web and it can be a tough task to track where online and geographically these events are taking place.

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Stuart Rosove, vice president of corporate and online marketing, at Irdeto chatted with us about trying to track piracy. The company does not shut sites or take sides in the debate as much as it finds the trends and places where these files end up.

“Most people think of pirates as these awful, terrible people stealing your content and disregarding your rights. When you take a look at the whole spectrum of piracy you do have egregious offenders, criminals who will steal your content to profit from it without sharing it back,” says Rosove. “Then you get to the world of the hacker. I would argue that hackers don’t really care about the content. Ask yourself if the guy who hacked the first DVD really wanted to watch it or if he wanted the badge of honour to say ‘I beat that encryption’”.

Rosove explains that from this point content starts to leak and consumers who are frustrated by territorial and other restrictions that cap distribution start to watch pirated material. Irdeto looks at this range of reasons and actions to create a clearer picture for its customers.

Check out the video where Rosove describes the many places where material ends up online, it’s clear that the well-known file-sharing websites are not the only places where pirated content can end up.

Our livestreaming came from Amsterdam via LiveU. There will be more videos you can catch up with and find out more about the future of broadcasting. You can find our full coverage from IBC here.

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