Securing Uploaded Video from being Download

[shiningworld_4u]

Hi!

We are going to develop a portal in PHP which will provide the different contents for view only (all contents are paid and could only be viewed). Our contents may include pdf, txt, video or audiofiles.

 

Could it is possible that user can only view the videos but not be able to download them (even using any software).

If its possible then please provide me the suggestion on how to do it. and if its not possible then please explain it why it cant be done.

 

Thanks in Advance.

 

Regards,

Muhammad Yasir

[trq]

It is not possible. Why? Because, for a client to view your content they need to download it.

 

There are ways of making it more difficult, but that it, not impossible.

[hackalive]

dont listen to thorpe, anything is possible it just depends how much work, time and effort you are willing to put in, time and time again I hear on this and other forums "thats not possible becuase..." but guess what most have ended up working (with loads of work and stress) and the others I have some ideas on how maybe they can work (but dont have a lot of time to do it at the moment). So if you are determined it will happen

[trq]

dont listen to thorpe, anything is possible it just depends how much work, time and effort you are willing to put in, time and time again I hear on this and other forums "thats not possible becuase..." but guess what most have ended up working (with loads of work and stress) and the others I have some ideas on how maybe they can work (but dont have a lot of time to do it at the moment). So if you are determined it will happen

 

How sir do you propose to guarantee a file that needs to be downloaded for viewing cannot be downloaded?

[shiningworld_4u]

dont listen to thorpe, anything is possible it just depends how much work, time and effort you are willing to put in, time and time again I hear on this and other forums "thats not possible becuase..." but guess what most have ended up working (with loads of work and stress) and the others I have some ideas on how maybe they can work (but dont have a lot of time to do it at the moment). So if you are determined it will happen

 

we are determine to do so, but not have any idea that how can we do that? we have a logic that if we are able to stream video on server not on client end then may be it can possible. Any idea will be appreciated.

[xcandiottix]

Inversely, the more someone wanted to steal the work the more time they would devote and effectively go around your counter measure. Basically, you're sending data to the users computer... there's no way around that.. and that data is in fact the very thing you don't want to send. No matter how good the protection, if you had a video on your site I could easily point my web cam at my screen and record it... an audio recorder on my audio output to record sound... and screen shot whatever pdfs you have. Therefore, I believe your challenge is not in protecting your data as much as it is being very careful about who gets to see it. I think the time you'll waste trying to protect your data would be better served on figuring out who you will allow to see it.

[jd307]

As already said, for media to be viewed the user has to be able to download it.  There may be a way around it, but I am not 100% sure how you could really protect it.  I also understand what xcandiottix is saying about there are other ways around it, e.g. someone pointing a camera at their monitor to steal your movie... although I am not really sure that it's totally relevant as everyone knows about pirated CAMs that you can download where someone has used a camcorder in the cinema.  The quality isn't great, so I don't see that as a huge problem.

 

The lines I was thinking along was if you can use the .htaccess file to prevent the download from happening.  You can, of course, use:

 

<files mymovie.mpg>
order allow,deny
deny from all
</files>

 

This will block all access to the file.  Unfortunately that also means that you could not serve the video through a webpage.  I do know that the .htaccess file can be used to limit the hosts, etc. that can stop someone from linking/leeching the video from your site, but am not sure if it is possible to write a rule that would deny access to the file UNLESS it is being served by a specific webpage.  This would mean that you'd have to write a rule for each file and each page it is available from (unless you do it through directories).

 

This may be the only real way to do it, if it is possible to create these rules. 

 

Alternatively, as xcandiottix has also mentioned, you could spend your time deciding who you will serve the video to.  As you mentioned that you are going to be making your site mainly premium content this will reduce the number of visitors who are likely to want to steal your content as they will not know what is there otherwise.  Also consider the likelihood of someone wanting to steal your content.

 

The amount of work needed may exceed its purpose.  Good luck with your site and hopefully you find a suitable solution.

[shiningworld_4u]

Thanks everyone for your support.

Now am going to do something in our "agreement".

Thanks again.

 

Best Regards,

Muhammad Yasir

[shiningworld_4u]

Hi Everybody!

I have done a research on this topic and found two ways of video buffering.

[*]Progressive Videos

[*]Streaming Video

in Streaming video, i found that it  is a method where video is sent in real-time to a client

machine which plays the video as it is received and then discards it.  In addition,

a streaming server such as the Macromedia Flash Communication Server MX can establish

an intelligent connection with the client to allow the video to respond to the network

connection and client requests.  Because streamed video starts fast, plays in real-time,

and allows users the ability to immediately access different parts of the video without

having to download all the video before it, it is a great solution for longer playing

videos, live video broadcasts, and applications that allow provide users with extensive

interaction with the video stream.

 

In addition, streamed video optimizes video delivery to large number of clients because

it delivers video just as it is needed.  Progressive downloaded, on the other hand,

delivers video as fast as a user's computer will accept it.  For large sites therefore,

streamed video can reduce the overall load on the servers and bandwidth costs. 

 

Further, because the media is not downloaded to the client's computer with a streaming

server, streaming offers an effective form of digital media protection.

 

Here arise another question.

 

 

Q: When should I use progressive download vs. streaming when delivering video.

 

A.  In general, for one-way one-to-many video delivery via the internet:

 

Use Progressive Download when you:

 

- Do not want to set up a specialized streaming server (i.e., FCS)

- Want consistent high quality playback at any connection speed

- Content downloaded to the client machine

 

 

Use Streaming when you need:

 

- Live broadcasts

- Long video clips

- Fast start (especially with longer clips)

- Immediate random access to different parts of a movie

- No content downloaded to the client machine

- Detailed stream statistics

- To stream a lot of video and managing server and bandwidth loads are important to

you

- Programmable stream control (e.g., server-side playlists, synchronized streams)

 

 

Hope this will help me and someone else who is looking for something like this.