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Preventing Unauthorized Video Downloading?

by rbowen
21 replies
Does anyone more technical than I know whether it's possible to prevent 'bad guys' from downloading my tutorial-videos from my site (or any site) without my permission - that is, without having paid me, first? (If so, how?)

And for that matter, is it possible to prevent others, who might not have bought the videos from me, from playing them .. like with a licensing key or some such thing?

Thanks,
Richard
#downloading #preventing #unauthorized #video
  • Profile picture of the author Pedro Ferreira
    I'm assuming that in your case you're talking about a video course that you're selling and some of your customers are sharing it with others for free, if that's not it please correct me.

    Best thing that you can do here is probably to create a membership type site where you send your customers a username and password after their purchase.

    Better yet, I think there are some scripts out there that generate download links that only last for the first 24 hours or only allow the person to download the file "x" number of times.

    You can also change the files location frequently on your own from time to time.

    EDIT: If your customers are sharing your stuff in other websites you can setup Google alerts like "product name download" or "get product name" and contact the admins from those sites to remove the posts/links leaking your stuff or you sue their asses (they usually take it down).
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  • Profile picture of the author NewRiseDigital
    Take a lesson from the music industry, don't wrap your product up in so much security that no one will be able to access it.

    If you are delivering a video course then wrap it up in a members site with Wishlist Members / S2Members / Magic Members or similar, however don't make your paid members jump through hoops to watch the videos once they're the other side of the checkout...

    Spend more time delivering value than worrying about piracy, just like audio if you can hear it you can record it, as with video if you can see it you can record it (ask the people who take cameras into the cinema and simply record the screen + in theatre audio).

    Of course it's not right, but life is too short to be chasing the bad guys. Focus on serving the people who want to exchange their cash for your value, they are the people who have a rich mindset and actually want to pay you for your work.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nail Yener
    Originally Posted by rbowen View Post

    Does anyone more technical than I know whether it's possible to prevent 'bad guys' from downloading my tutorial-videos from my site (or any site) without my permission - that is, without having paid me, first? (If so, how?)

    And for that matter, is it possible to prevent others, who might not have bought the videos from me, from playing them .. like with a licensing key or some such thing?

    Thanks,
    Richard
    I don't know of any way to protect videos and I don't think there is a way to do that unless they are distributed as physical media.

    Are you selling the videos, are they coming within a product pack? Or are you talking about publicly available videos that you've published on your site?

    In any case, that "bad guy" will always find a way to share it if he is determined to do that. Therefore, why don't you embed your brand/website name on the videos so that anyone who watches them will know that they are produced by you. Don't worry about the people who watch them without paying for them. If they can't find something free online, they will not pay for it anyway.
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    • Profile picture of the author LexiB
      Originally Posted by Nail Yener View Post

      I don't know of any way to protect videos and I don't think there is a way to do that unless they are distributed as physical media.

      Are you selling the videos, are they coming within a product pack? Or are you talking about publicly available videos that you've published on your site?

      In any case, that "bad guy" will always find a way to share it if he is determined to do that. Therefore, why don't you embed your brand/website name on the videos so that anyone who watches them will know that they are produced by you. Don't worry about the people who watch them without paying for them. If they can't find something free online, they will not pay for it anyway.
      This right here is your answer. First you'll spend tons of time making your site "secure". Then after you do that, it will be so secure that your customer support inbox will be filled with questions about how to access the material. The second you are done answering the 200 emails about how to access the site, you'll see the videos on one of the "bad guy" sites.

      Just brand your information well and don't worry about it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Regional Warrior
    [QUOTE=rbowen;7837425]Does anyone more technical than I know whether it's possible to prevent 'bad guys' from downloading my tutorial-videos from my site (or any site) without my permission - that is, without having paid me, first? (If so, how?)

    Richard , It amazes me when the question you asked gets hijacked by someone who puts there spin and It is not what you are asking:rolleyes:

    There is a way to stop others from downloading from the website by using robot txt now I am not going to write the code in case I get it wrong But I sure someone will either PM you the code or write it here on the thread.

    Jason
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    • Profile picture of the author Nail Yener
      Originally Posted by Regional Warrior View Post

      Richard , It amazes me when the question you asked gets hijacked by someone who puts there spin and It is not what you are asking:rolleyes:

      There is a way to stop others from downloading from the website by using robot txt now I am not going to write the code in case I get it wrong But I sure someone will either PM you the code or write it here on the thread.

      Jason
      Jason, robot.txt is a file with instructions to search engine spiders. You can't use robot.txt to protect files.
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      • Profile picture of the author Regional Warrior
        Sorry thought you could hide the files location and stop "Bad Guys" from downloading at the site via its location on the site map!using robot txt
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        • Profile picture of the author Brandon Tanner
          If someone can watch your video, they can download it. Plain and simple.

          There are ways to hide the URL of the video files from plain view, but anyone using Firebug (or similar tool) can find the URL of those files in 2 seconds and then easily download them.

          Another way they can rip off your video is to do a screen recording of it as it's playing back (using Camtasia, etc).

          So there's really no foolproof way to prevent it. Like Harlan said, if your product is even marginally popular, it will be available for download at several blackhat / torrent sites within a few days. Unfortunately, that's just the reality of it.

          The good news though is... as long as you market your product well, you should have plenty of honest, paying customers.
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  • Profile picture of the author BillyParadise
    do what the porn guys are doing - streaming video only- no downloading - and if you're really concerned with piracy then watermark dynamically with the user's login id.

    the above is not a cheap solution but its about the best way these days to discourage piracy.
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    • Profile picture of the author Nail Yener
      Originally Posted by BillyParadise View Post

      do what the porn guys are doing - streaming video only- no downloading - and if you're really concerned with piracy then watermark dynamically with the user's login id.

      the above is not a cheap solution but its about the best way these days to discourage piracy.
      What do you mean by "streaming video only - no downloading"? Is there any example (in another industry) you can show? I haven't come across a non-downloadable public video yet. Maybe there is, I would like to know.
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      • Profile picture of the author Lloyd Buchinski
        Originally Posted by Nail Yener View Post

        What do you mean by "streaming video only - no downloading"? Is there any example (in another industry) you can show? I haven't come across a non-downloadable public video yet. Maybe there is, I would like to know.
        Here's a good one.

        Words of Peace Global - Video library

        If you find a way to download those, let me know. They are using the ooyala CDN. It isn't to prevent people from downloading them, just to take care of bandwidth and website issues.

        Unlike the ones that Jill mentioned, you can pause and then play them from the same place.
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  • Profile picture of the author troy23
    There is not much you can do at the moment.
    Watermark your videos though.
    At the very least if someone distributes them your site link will be in the watermark and you may get traffic back to your site.
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  • Profile picture of the author kevinlairre
    Too much security = extremely low user friendliness ...

    I am guessing there are many solutions available online for your needs, but it would definitely cause a hindrance for the 'good guys' too. Nonetheless, the amount of security required depends on what kind of information you are releasing as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author JHandy
    The bottom line is that if you are a person of integrity offline then you will be the same online. Unfortunately we have all types with us and the truth of the matter is if there is a will there is a way.

    If they want to steal your stuff, they are going to find a way to do it. But as others have suggested , a membership site would make it a little harder for them to get to.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jill Carpenter
      Originally Posted by Nail Yener View Post

      What do you mean by "streaming video only - no downloading"? Is there any example (in another industry) you can show? I haven't come across a non-downloadable public video yet. Maybe there is, I would like to know.
      There are examples of this in IM. I bought a product recently that the videos are only available to watch online - and if you pause the video you need to start all over again for it to play.

      You can do this through Amazon S3.

      Of course, anyone with screencapture software will always be able t make a copy.
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  • Profile picture of the author Yadira Barbosa
    I had the same problem and corrected using Nanacast.

    I upload the videos into Amazon S3 and keep it closed to direct access, you can program Nanacast with your security credentials and they must login to watch it there.
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  • Profile picture of the author kencalhn
    i can download or capture any video known to man. if i can see it i can capture it. anyone can. child's play. camtasia, internetdownloadmanager.com, whatever.

    i've produced hundreds of hours of content, keeping new content in the pipeline with live webinars is the way to keep engagement
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  • Profile picture of the author tarun123
    Hi, There are securities for businesses to prevent video downloads. Akamai DRM is the leader in this but it is too costly . You can try vdocipher.com . They use some encryption technology to prevent video download. No downloader is able to catch them.
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    • Profile picture of the author Nightengale
      As others have mentioned, you CAN do a streaming-only video. But even if you can prevent them from downloading it, anyone can screen record it if they have the tools to do so.

      The bottom line is: Make sure your stuff is as secure as you can make it, but then focus on your actual customers.

      Don't obsess over pirates. No, it's not right, but you really cant stop it and they weren't going to buy anyway. Focus on your paying customers. Think about how you can add value to your paid content. Maybe a service of some sort? Maybe personal feedback from you? Maybe inclusion in a private Facebook community?

      "Plus" it: add something so valuable tha even if pirates get the videos, they're still not really getting the whole thing.

      Hope that helps!

      Michelle
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  • Profile picture of the author Christian Swift
    Hi rbowen,

    The best thing to do is to put your videos behind a membership site where users can only access them when they have a username and a password. This would mean that only those who had paid you could access the videos.

    Of course there is still the chance of somebody showing their friends/family the videos when they have bought into what you are selling. This can't be avoided unless you are using an IP tracking tool which can show you if people are logging in in multiple locations.

    A membership site will cure most of the problems though!

    Christian
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