Framework for privacy-aware content distribution in peer-to- peer networks with copyright protection

The use of peer-to-peer (P2P) networks for multimedia distribution has spread out globally in recent years. This mass popularity is primarily driven by the efficient distribution of content, also giving rise to piracy and copyright infringement as well as privacy concerns. An end user (buyer) of a P2P content distribution system does not want to reveal his/her identity during a transaction with a content owner (merchant), whereas the merchant does not want the buyer to further redistribute the content illegally. Therefore, there is a strong need for content distribution mechanisms over P2P networks that do not pose security and privacy threats to copyright holders and end users, respectively. However, the current systems being developed to provide copyright and privacy protection to merchants and end users employ cryptographic mechanisms, which incur high computational and communication costs, making these systems impractical for the distribution of big files, such as music albums or movies.El uso de soluciones de igual a igual (peer-to-peer, P2P) para la distribución multimedia se ha extendido mundialmente en los últimos años. La amplia popularidad de este paradigma se debe, principalmente, a la distribución eficiente de los contenidos, pero también da lugar a la piratería, a la violación del copyright y a problemas de privacidad. Un usuario final (comprador) de un sistema de distribución de contenidos P2P no quiere revelar su identidad durante una transacción con un propietario de contenidos (comerciante), mientras que el comerciante no quiere que el comprador pueda redistribuir ilegalmente el contenido más adelante. Por lo tanto, existe una fuerte necesidad de mecanismos de distribución de contenidos por medio de redes P2P que no supongan un riesgo de seguridad y privacidad a los titulares de derechos y los usuarios finales, respectivamente. Sin embargo, los sistemas actuales que se desarrollan con el propósito de proteger el copyright y la privacidad de los comerciantes y los usuarios finales emplean mecanismos de cifrado que implican unas cargas computacionales y de comunicaciones muy elevadas que convierten a estos sistemas en poco prácticos para distribuir archivos de gran tamaño, tales como álbumes de música o películas.L'ús de solucions d'igual a igual (peer-to-peer, P2P) per a la distribució multimèdia s'ha estès mundialment els darrers anys. L'àmplia popularitat d'aquest paradigma es deu, principalment, a la distribució eficient dels continguts, però també dóna lloc a la pirateria, a la violació del copyright i a problemes de privadesa. Un usuari final (comprador) d'un sistema de distribució de continguts P2P no vol revelar la seva identitat durant una transacció amb un propietari de continguts (comerciant), mentre que el comerciant no vol que el comprador pugui redistribuir il·legalment el contingut més endavant. Per tant, hi ha una gran necessitat de mecanismes de distribució de continguts per mitjà de xarxes P2P que no comportin un risc de seguretat i privadesa als titulars de drets i els usuaris finals, respectivament. Tanmateix, els sistemes actuals que es desenvolupen amb el propòsit de protegir el copyright i la privadesa dels comerciants i els usuaris finals fan servir mecanismes d'encriptació que impliquen unes càrregues computacionals i de comunicacions molt elevades que fan aquests sistemes poc pràctics per a distribuir arxius de grans dimensions, com ara àlbums de música o pel·lícules

Data Hiding and Its Applications

Data hiding techniques have been widely used to provide copyright protection, data integrity, covert communication, non-repudiation, and authentication, among other applications. In the context of the increased dissemination and distribution of multimedia content over the internet, data hiding methods, such as digital watermarking and steganography, are becoming increasingly relevant in providing multimedia security. The goal of this book is to focus on the improvement of data hiding algorithms and their different applications (both traditional and emerging), bringing together researchers and practitioners from different research fields, including data hiding, signal processing, cryptography, and information theory, among others

Collusion-resistant and privacy-preserving P2P multimedia distribution based on recombined fingerprinting

Recombined fingerprints have been suggested as a convenient approach to improve the efficiency of anonymous fingerprinting for the legal distribution of copyrighted multimedia contents in P2P systems. The recombination idea is inspired by the principles of mating, recombination and heredity of the DNA sequences of living beings, but applied to binary sequences, like in genetic algorithms. However, the existing recombination-based fingerprinting systems do not provide a convenient solution for collusion resistance, since they require 'double-layer' fingerprinting codes, making the practical implementation of such systems a challenging task. In fact, collusion resistance is regarded as the most relevant requirement of a fingerprinting scheme, and the lack of any acceptable solution to this problem would possibly deter content merchants from deploying any practical implementation of the recombination approach. In this paper, this drawback is overcome by introducing two non-trivial improvements, paving the way for a future real-life application of recombination-based systems. First, Nuida et al.'s collusion-resistant codes are used in segment-wise fashion for the first time. Second, a novel version of the traitor-tracing algorithm is proposed in the encrypted domain, also for the first time, making it possible to provide the buyers with security against framing. In addition, the proposed method avoids the use of public-key cryptography for the multimedia content and expensive cryptographic protocols, leading to excellent performance in terms of both computational and communication burdens. In fact, after bootstrapping, the merchant is no longer required to participate in any file transfer, reducing the investment in equipment required for content distribution to the bare minimum. The paper also analyzes the security and privacy properties of the proposed system both formally and informally, whereas the collusion resistance and the performance of the method are shown by means of experiments and simulations

Collusion-resistant and privacy-preserving P2P multimedia distribution based on recombined fingerprinting

Recombined fingerprints have been suggested as a convenient approach to improve the efficiency of anonymous fingerprinting for the legal distribution of copyrighted multimedia contents in P2P systems. The recombination idea is inspired by the principles of mating, recombination and heredity of the DNA sequences of living beings, but applied to binary sequences, like in genetic algorithms. However, the existing recombination-based fingerprinting systems do not provide a convenient solution for collusion resistance, since they require 'double-layer' fingerprinting codes, making the practical implementation of such systems a challenging task. In fact, collusion resistance is regarded as the most relevant requirement of a fingerprinting scheme, and the lack of any acceptable solution to this problem would possibly deter content merchants from deploying any practical implementation of the recombination approach. In this paper, this drawback is overcome by introducing two non-trivial improvements, paving the way for a future real-life application of recombination-based systems. First, Nuida et al.'s collusion-resistant codes are used in segment-wise fashion for the first time. Second, a novel version of the traitor-tracing algorithm is proposed in the encrypted domain, also for the first time, making it possible to provide the buyers with security against framing. In addition, the proposed method avoids the use of public-key cryptography for the multimedia content and expensive cryptographic protocols, leading to excellent performance in terms of both computational and communication burdens. In fact, after bootstrapping, the merchant is no longer required to participate in any file transfer, reducing the investment in equipment required for content distribution to the bare minimum. The paper also analyzes the security and privacy properties of the proposed system both formally and informally, whereas the collusion resistance and the performance of the method are shown by means of experiments and simulations