watermark

Your iris as photo watermark

Photographers whose work appears online--and nowadays that's just about all of them, really--are all too aware of how easily their photos can be misappropriated. They can add a watermark on each picture, of course, but that typically involves post-shoot work with image-editing software. Canon apparently sees an opportunity to automate the process on the camera--making use of biometric data courtesy of the photographer's iris.

Read more about the patent at the Photography Bay blog: "Canon's Iris Registration Mode - Biological Copyright Metadata"

Study: Digital watermarking market growing

From 2007 to 2012, the market should more than quadruple for technology called watermarks or fingerprints that can endow photos, video, and audio with unobtrusive digital identifiers, according to a new study.

Digital watermarks modify a digital file slightly so that specific information can be embedded, but the techniques are subtle so people don't notice the change when viewing or listening to the media file. The technology is a less-obtrusive cousin to digital rights management (DRM), which at least in theory encrypts files so they can't be used except by those with authorization.

The market for watermarking technology … Read more

Sony BMG to offer gift cards for unprotected MP3s

Call it a mix-and-match approach to music retailing.

Sony BMG Music Entertainment, one of the top four music labels, is the latest to meld an offline-online sales strategy. The record company said in a press release it will soon offer gift cards through brick-and-mortar stores that can be used to redeem music from the Web.

The best part of the offering is that the music is available in unprotected MP3s, more proof that Sony BMG is easing away from copy-protection software. Citing unnamed sources, BusinessWeek reported last week that the label is preparing to strip digital rights management software from … Read more

PicMarker watermarks, keeps your photos safe from evildoers

The correct attribution for online photos is a touchy subject. People like to snazz up all sorts of things with photos they find on the Internet, and hunting down who owns the picture isn't always the easiest thing if it's been passed around without the proper credit. In December of last year, the video "Here Comes Another Bubble" caused a stir when video creators The Richter Scales were found using other people's photos without any kind of attribution whatsoever. The snafu sparked an online debate about digital media rights, and the fallout was substantial. The … Read more

Watermarking to replace DRM?

Editors' note: This blog initially misspelled the name of a writer from Wired. The writer is Eliot Van Buskirk.

Watermarking has been in the news twice in the past week. First, Wired's Eliot Van Buskirk revealed that Universal will insert watermarks in the DRM-free files it's distributing through Rhapsody, Amazon.com and other online stores.

Then, Wednesday, Microsoft announced that it's licensing audio watermarking technology developed by its research division to a company called Activated Content. (Microsoft Research used to be devoted entirely to building technology that would later be incorporated into Microsoft products, but a couple … Read more

Microsoft licenses audio watermarking technology

Microsoft said Wednesday that it has signed a deal to license audio watermarking technology from its research labs to Seattle-based Activated Content.

While watermarking technology is often used as an antipiracy measure, Microsoft said its technology allows companies to add-in other types of content and services into the watermarked audio. One of the big potential applications is adding advertising to streaming media, according to a report on MediaPost.

"We are excited about this agreement with Activated Content because they are uniquely positioned to extend this audio watermarking technology to new emerging applications and we feel great about supporting the … Read more