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There has been a growth in the amount of audiovisual content distributed through online platforms and Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file-sharing networks. Consequently, content security, copyright protection, and piracy tracing are the top-of-the-mind challenges for the owners, producers, and distributors of audiovisual content. Therefore, a study was conducted to analyze whether blockchain technology can be used to address the challenges.

According to researchers from the K-riptography and Information Security for Open Networks (KISON) group at the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3), it is possible to upload copyrighted content; control licensing/copyright options; manage distribution; trace sources of piracy, and receive payments upon content usage through blockchain.

However, the recent study highlights that there are still very few blockchain-based copyright protection systems. To fill this gap, the researchers propose "a taxonomy that integrates technical aspects and application knowledge and can guide them towards developing blockchain-based multimedia copyright protection systems."

Consequently, the researchers reviewed scientific literature, analyzed 18 blockchain-based multimedia content protection systems, and compared them systematically. The researchers examined aspects such as whether the multimedia content protection systems comprise public or private networks and the digital protection techniques used. The researchers also looked at the performance of the blockchain-based multimedia content protection systems in terms of scalability, potential to resist cyberattacks, response time, and data storage capacity.

The study's findings revealed some of the research gaps that will need to be filled to implement blockchain in this area. General shortcomings like poor interoperability due to the lack of universal standards and the lack of models for proof of concept validation or conflict resolution were highlighted. The researchers also pointed out prevailing issues regarding multimedia content protection systems that can support blockchain technology. Specifically, when it comes to overcoming the challenges associated with incorporating the distributed systems and security guarantees accepted by all involved parties.

For the researchers, the future success of using the blockchain technology for copyright protection of audiovisual content will depend on challenging to foresee factors, such as "scalability, reliability or market adoption."

Click here to read the original article published by EurekAlert!