Anti piracy watermarking tip

You CANNOT protect your content with DRM, streaming, PPV etc. If it can be viewed, it can be saved. If it can be saved, it can be illegally shared.

I’ve used FREE software to save Netflix content. If they can’t stop it, no one can. (Dear Netflix, for testing purposes only).

GOOD NEWS : The same CC rules that have caused us trouble have also forced the tubes, at least the ones people actually use, to tighten up on their pirated material.

BUT, while we can’t use technical solutions, we can apply psychology – if people know that we can trace it back to them, they are less likely to abuse our trust.

This works in Vegas. Media Generator is used to create the text on transparent marks.

Other good editing programs should allow something similar, but simple programs might not.

It also assumes you are doing a dropbox/wetransfer/wormhole.app delivery, not a “direct download/stream from shop”*. It’s perfect for customs, even if you don’t do it for all of them. (Another tip for customs, keep saying their name. A lot of people who upload customs edit out their name. But if it’s every 20s, they usually give up.)

Step 1 – create the brand mark, e.g. badbutlerxxx.com on transparent. Make this the TOP video track.

In the next video track down:-

Step 2 – create the “Thank you CLIENT”.

Step 3 – create a series of very short, almost transparent ones which have something unique. Client name, email, I use Order Number. Use a small font – I use 10. Each of these is literally 2-5s long, the text location changes from mark to mark.

Below this, add the actual video.

Render.

So, the client thinks it’s cool they got something unique. The pirate has to do a lot of boring work to be sure they found all the marks. If they care, they won’t bother. If they don’t care, nothing will stop them. But you’ll know who leaked and can at least stop selling to them. (At least if you have your own site and shop).

KEEP the editing file. For next customer you just edit the text for the marks.

TIP

You can copy marks and paste “as reference to original”. Then when you edit the text of the first one in the sequence, ALL the others change.

So, I have an edit file that includes ALL my videos, one region per video. I edit the mark text in the first video, and hit batch render regions, and I get clips individualized for that user. The ones I don’t need, I keep, in case they buy them, and, from time to time, as the disk fills, bin them. This only works if you have fast rendering.

*It’s too time consuming, and, at the moment, an automated online approach would need coding – expensive.