Copy protection attempts to find ways which limit the access to copyrighted material and/or inhibit the copy process itself. Examples of copy protection include encrypted digital TV broadcast, access controls to copyrighted software through the use of license servers or through the use of special hardware add-ons (dongles), and technical copy protection mechanisms on the media.
Copy protection mechanisms can work pro-actively by aiming to prevent users from accessing copy protected content.
For content that is distributed on physical media such as floppy disks, digital audio tape (DAT), CD-ROM or digital versatile disk (DVD), copy protection can be achieved by master copy control and copy generation control:
Master copy control:If consumers are not allowed to even make backup copies of their master media, then one can mark the master media themselves in addition to or instead of marking the copyrighted content. This was an inexpensive and common way to protect software distributed...
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References
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Bleumer, G. (2005). Copy Protection. In: van Tilborg, H.C.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security. Springer, Boston, MA . https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-23483-7_78
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