Digital watermarks are special codes or patterns that are embedded into digital media files like images, videos, or documents. They are generally invisible to the human eye but can be detected using specific software or tools. These watermarks serve as a unique identifier that helps to protect and authenticate the content, ensuring its ownership and preventing unauthorized use or plagiarism.
Full definition
Some publishers are considering the idea of
using digital watermarks instead of DRM (or sometimes in conjunction with DRM).
Others may opt
for digital watermarking or social DRM because of the freedom it allows consumers to read their purchase on any device.
In 2015, many well - known publishing houses also changed their DRM strategies: in March, Dumont announced that they would be using
digital watermarks in the future; dtv followed in May, as did the German Bonnier publishing houses — Piper, Ullstein, Carlsen, arsEdition Thienemann - Esslinger and Berlin Verlag.
Although
digital watermarking does not add any additional steps to the purchasing and downloading process, users must enter their personal details before accessing the e-book.
Pottermore came into existence as an avenue to use
digital watermarks as a way to sell Harry Potter books, and not restrict how a user can read them.
HaperCollins has started using a new
digital watermarking DRM, in addition to regular ebook DRM, to add additional security to their ebooks.
Despite some criticism about piracy concerns, Redmayne countered with evidence that piracy of the Harry Potter titles is actually 25 % lower than when the titles were only available in print; additionally, he recounted incidences when the ebooks were actually placed on file sharing websites, but most were quickly removed when it became known that all of the ebooks are sold with an
embedded digital watermark, essentially tracking the person who uploaded the pirated copy.
Digimarc Guardian Watermarking embeds unique, imperceptible, and
traceable digital watermarks into e-books in near real - time, enabling distributors and publishers to track where their content is appearing online and identify the sources of leakage and unauthorized distribution.
Cozzella and his colleagues developed a foolproof variation that involves removing random pixels that don't contribute to the image and inserting an
invisible digital watermark, such as a corporate logo, in their place.
Tony Rodriguez, who works for Oregon -
based digital watermarking firm Digimarc says that valid 3D files could be marked by subtly altering the 3D design without changing the printed object.
So
if digital watermarks are not going to be able to be tracked back to the users who distributed the digital work, what is the point of it?
Digital watermarking also personalizes the e-book buying experience for consumers, because every version of the book is personalized.
Right
now digital watermarking is big in Europe and is considered the de» facto standard in the publishing arena, but now North Americans are slowly starting to realize the potential.
Though BooXtream's parent company, Icontact, has been
providing digital watermarking for Dutch audiobook distributors since 2006 and BooXtream itself had its official start in 2010, the company first entered the international limelight when Pottermore started using watermarking this spring.
Pottermore famously
employs digital watermarks as a form of «social DRM,» meaning that the technology doesn't prevent people from copying or sharing ebooks, but does discourage unauthorized sharing by making it socially undesirable (since the purchaser can easily be traced).
BooXtream ® encodes this as a series of
redundant digital watermarks and also adds visible, personalized information for the end user into the ePub file.
In this patent infringement case about mobile
handset digital watermarking technology, a Texas court rejected the royalty rate methodology of plaintiff's expert because the expert failed to explain, mathematically, how his survey data led to his 10 % factor to apportion the value of the handset... LEARN MORE
The mockup of Apple's next - generation 5.5 - inch handset includes design features, such as a dual - lens iSight camera and tweaked antenna lines, Apple Insider reported, adding that the photos» authenticity couldn't be confirmed as multiple Weibo accounts shared them with their
own digital watermark.
The very first start
with digital watermarks was in 2006, when Icontact developed a custom digital distribution and fulfilment platform for audio books to be used by a Dutch audio book web shop and distributor.
Digital watermarking technology caught on a few years ago when the entire Harry Potter eBook collection adopted it, instead of going the traditional DRM route.
Last month eBoekhuis, who is the leading company responsible
for digital watermarks, made waves when it said it would provide Anti-Piracy company BREIN with user data.
Come and hear about new identification technologies that are being adopted by retailers including DataBar and
the Digital Watermark (DW) code and what benefits they can bring to retailers, suppliers and consumers.
Recently, they announced the advent of
digital watermarks to work in conjunction with standard Adobe DRM.
This is why the vast majority end up using
Digital Watermarks or Adobe DRM in order to make it hard to upload material you have purchased to file sharing websites.
The take a cut of each transaction and embed
a digital watermark in the book, so publishers are verify the book has been officially resold.
BooXtream is one of the largest companies who are involved in watermark technology and CEO Huub van de Pol sat down with Good e-Reader to talk how it all fundamentally works and provides an eye opening introspective into the world of
digital watermarks and social DRM.
Many European bookstores actually sell eBooks in MOBI format and embed them with
digital watermarks to curb piracy.
Digital Watermarks or Social DRM is starting to catch on in Europe in a very big way.
Its DRM - Free because they use
digital watermarks.
their MOBI files can be read on Amazon, they have
digital watermarks, so you can sideload them on.
The European publishing industry has firmly embraced social DRM or
digital watermark technology to protect and secure their eBook content.
Digital watermarking for e-books works much the way that watermarking does for photographs.