Advanced Television

Patents breakthrough in online piracy fight

September 25, 2018

By Colin Mann

Streamed content monitoring specialist VFT Solutions has received a US government patent for methods for identifying, disrupting and monetising the illegal sharing and viewing of digital and analogue streaming content. The technology strengthens VFT’s suite of solutions available to content providers seeking to stop online piracy.

“Live-streaming piracy on social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter represent the greatest threat to all forms of live and Video-On-Demand content,” noted Wayne Lonstein, CEO / Co-Founder of VFT Solutions, Inc. “From live sports to Pay-Per-View to streaming movies, our VLA technology has identified over nine billion global viewers of pirated content on over 500,000 analysed streams.”

In order to address this VFT’s technology provides transparency of the level of the problem on social media and allows content owners, creators and broadcasters to interact with, educate and communicate with these ‘alt viewers’ or ‘Nano-pirates’.

“Simply taking down these streams in the traditional method—using DMCA takedowns and platform rights management tools—proves far less effective,” claimed Lonstein. “Viewers who are watching a stream simply move on to another stream on a social media platform. However, when VFT communicates with the viewers to provide education, deterrence and even OTT legal options. The goal is to convert these viewers to paid subscribers—and VFT’s technology does just that.”

VFT’s proprietary technology enables intellectual property owners to identify online distribution sources as well as consumers of their content. Content owners can leverage this information into new products, strategies and even sales channels to deter, educate and monetise this rapidly expanding consumption model.

“With this technology, our clients can simultaneously address IP theft while monetising and converting illegal consumers into paying customers,” Lonstein added.

Additionally, the technology is extremely beneficial in identifying public threats, illegal weapons, live crime and other intelligence being broadcast on social media while there is still time to react, intervene and even in certain instances interrupt the threat.

Categories: Articles, Content, OTT, OTT, Piracy, Rights