Protecting digital content copyright: AI is needed to create a more comprehensive shield.

On September 26th in Hanoi, the Vietnam Digital Content Creation Alliance (DCCA), in collaboration with Thu Do Multimedia, organized a seminar titled "Solving the Problem of Copyright Protection for the Digital Music , Film, and Television Industries."

The seminar aimed to share information on the current state of digital content copyright infringement in general, as well as in the digital music, film, and television industries in particular, and to discuss the difficulties in applying solutions to prevent and deter copyright infringement.

Protecting copyright of digital content requires using AI applications to create a more comprehensive and innovative platform (Figure 1). — Overview of the seminar.

Speaking at the seminar, Mr. Vu Kiem Van - Vice President and General Secretary of the Vietnam Digital Communication Association (VDCA) - stated that the issue of protecting content copyright, especially in the context of current digital transformation, is facing many challenges. Numerous conferences and seminars have discussed this issue, demonstrating that it is a matter of great concern to businesses creating and selling digital content.

Recognizing this trend, more than three years ago, VDCA established and launched the Digital Copyright Center. The Center has the important mission of contributing to solving this pressing issue. Many socio-professional organizations and businesses specializing in copyright exploitation and protection have also emerged, focusing on films, music, games, etc., creating an increasingly large force working together to protect digital copyrights.

According to Mr. Vu Kiem Van, today's seminar once again contributes voices and experiences to the business community and media outlets on this not-so-new but very pressing issue. The seminar focuses on rather specific areas: music, film, and digital television – the fields with the most copyright infringement cases in recent times and also the most difficult to handle.

Protecting copyright of digital content requires using AI applications to create a more comprehensive and innovative platform (Figure 2). — Mr. Vu Kiem Van - Vice President and General Secretary of the Vietnam Digital Communication Association (VDCA) - spoke at the seminar.

Regarding the current situation and difficulties in preventing copyright infringement, Mr. Pham Hoang Hai, Director of the Center for Digital Content Copyright, Department of Broadcasting and Electronic Information, Ministry of Information and Communications , stated that in recent times, the Department of Broadcasting and Electronic Information has coordinated with copyright holders in the field of broadcasting and electronic information to carry out activities to prevent copyright infringement in Vietnam.

According to Mr. Pham Hoang Hai, copyright infringement is currently very complex, with numerous illegal websites violating football copyright, especially for major, topical tournaments such as the English Premier League and the UEFA Champions League. These illegal websites garnered up to 1.5 billion views in 2022-2023.

In addition, there are over 200 pirated websites attracting approximately 120 million views per month. Notably, recently, some pirated websites have been found to have started stealing Japanese manga content. This violation has been met with very strict penalties from Japan.

Protecting copyright of digital content requires using AI applications to create a more comprehensive and innovative platform (Figure 3). — Mr. Pham Hoang Hai, Director of the Center for Digital Content Copyright, Department of Broadcasting and Electronic Information, Ministry of Information and Communications, outlined the current situation of content copyright infringement.

"The infringing domain names host their servers abroad, and the owners all place gambling advertisements on these websites. Typical forms of infringement involve copyright holders broadcasting or uploading content on platforms such as OTT, terrestrial digital television, and satellite digital television, only to have their content copied and then livestreamed on social media and infringing websites," Mr. Pham Hoang Hai informed.

Regarding technical measures, Mr. Hai stated that the Department of Broadcasting and Electronic Information has coordinated with the Department of Information Security and the Copyright Offices to detect, verify, and coordinate with relevant units to send information to intermediary service providers (ISPs). This prevents internet users in Vietnam from accessing infringing websites, resulting in the blocking of nearly 1000 websites.

However, according to Mr. Hai, there are currently some shortcomings in handling copyright infringement, such as inconsistent prevention measures among ISPs, inconsistent blocking times (some ISPs block immediately, while others block after 3 working days or longer), and a lack of flexibility in dealing with new domain names – infringers change domain names very quickly, then announce the new name in private groups on social media platforms like Telegram, Facebook, and Zalo.

Protecting copyright of digital content requires using AI applications to create a more comprehensive and innovative platform (Figure 4). — Lawyer Pham Thanh Thuy analyzes the challenges in detecting and handling violations of digital content copyright.

Lawyer Pham Thanh Thuy - Head of Copyright Protection at K+ - believes that, in the context of the extremely vibrant digital content distribution, the rapid development of OTT television platforms and online film distributors has brought users to a completely new era of entertainment content consumption. The convenience of accessing movies, television programs, and live music events on devices has transformed how audiences interact with content.

However, this digital revolution also brings unprecedented challenges in content security and copyright protection, requiring the development of new solutions to protect content from a range of copyright infringement risks.

OTT television service providers such as TV360,FPT Play, and online movie distributors like Netflix, Hulu, and Hotstar have become crucial players in the internet entertainment ecosystem by meeting the demand for unlimited content. Therefore, ensuring the integrity and exclusivity of released content has become a critical issue and a problem that content owners and distributors are increasingly prioritizing.

Ms. Pham Thanh Thuy stated that although domain name blocking measures have begun to be implemented in Vietnam, and digital rights management (DRM) solutions such as Widevine, FairPlay, and PlayReady have been deployed to prevent unauthorized access and distribution, current copyright protection solutions are still insufficient and a multi-faceted approach is needed to address existing risks.

"Specifically, the problem that content providers face in the DRM vulnerability is primarily the exploitation of packet spoofing to deceive the License Server and bypass authentication to grant access to content for untrusted accounts," lawyer Pham Thanh Thuy emphasized.

Protecting copyright of digital content requires using AI applications to create a more comprehensive and innovative platform (Figure 5). — Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Han, General Director of Thu Do Multimedia, presented a solution applying AI technology to fill the gaps in digital copyright protection solutions.

Besides the loopholes of DRM, lawyer Thuy stated that OTT television providers and online publishers face a range of other risks requiring comprehensive copyright protection solutions, such as: the issue of using screen recording devices for playback or the exploitation of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to bypass geographical restrictions, allowing access to content from one country and distribution of unauthorized content in another.

Introducing the technical measures applying AI technology in copyright protection, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Han - General Director of Thu Do Multimedia - shared that, in order to cope with these diverse threats, Sigma Multi-DRM has developed a groundbreaking protection measure - Sigma Active Observer (SAO). "This is an innovative solution that goes far beyond the limitations of traditional DRM solutions, providing a flexible and proactive defense mechanism that actively detects and notifies of copyright infringement risks," Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Han stated.

According to Mr. Han, the "heart" of Sigma Multi-DRM is SAO, a powerful software toolset that redefines content security. SAO is not simply a security layer of Sigma Multi-DRM, but also monitors every aspect of content distribution and streaming. Using advanced AI algorithms, SAO goes further in detecting and scrutinizing all data exchange activities during the distribution of content on the Internet.

Phan Hoa Giang

Source