Researchers at the Fraunhofer Integrated Publication and Information Systems Institute have successfully tested a software system, based on the group’s own digital watermarking technology, for tracking pirated audio files in peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks, said Michael Kip, a spokesman for the institute.
Kip referred to the Fraunhofer approach as an alternative to digital rights management systems, which he said require special players and are prone to hacking.
While watermarking technology isn’t new per se, this is the first time it has been used in a system to automatically track pirating in P2P networks, according to Kip.
