A pirate's life for me

Media companies are increasingly worried that video recording software will yield a new generation of pirates, robbing the entitled of lucrative ad revenue, reports The Globe and Mail.

As media companies ramp up the television, film and video offerings available online, concerns about new media piracy are understandably growing. And sometimes, even pre- and post-roll ads don't help.

"Major television operators are seeing their offerings re-posted on the Internet, oftentimes with the advertising stripped out," said Brian Baker, CEO of Widevine Technologies.

To demonstrate the ease with which pirates could do this, Widevine recently recorded a video clip from a network website, stripped out the commercials and sent the altered video back to appalled company execs.

New media piracy technologies have been dubbed "stream rippers" and can be purchased on the Internet for less than $100. Such offerings are expected to hit major mainstream popularity with the introduction of new video players in the last half of 2007.

One such worrisome offering is the RealPlayer update, available for testing this week. The update enables users to record copyrighted content but protects content laced with DRM, a provision that doesn't salve concerns.

A major network executive called this trend "a dramatic move in the wrong direction."

Widevine, which encrypts digital content to protect video streams from piracy, focuses on maintaining the integrity of existing DRM technology - whichever form a client is using.

"From a business perspective, preserving the integrity of the advertising is crucial," said Baker.