Our project is called Project Life Roulette and our problem statement is Digital Threats’ Subtheme 2 - Digital Rights Management (DRM). Our hacking provides an innovative, feasible and straightforward solution to preventing unauthorised access, and therefore unnecessary distribution and reproduction of digital content.
To prevent unauthorised access of content and files, current solutions out there include using a key to control access to a file, or allowing a user to download but not run a program. However, they still have certain limitations in protecting digital content.
Even with the protection of a file with a key, the owner cannot control how the user alters or misuses the file thereafter, since the file is already in the possession of the users. This is addressed in our solution with two key features.
Introducing Feature 1 - the “View Once” feature, which only allows users to open the file once after downloading it. In our code, we implemented this feature such that the user gets however much time to view the file. During the hacking process, we thought about all possible loopholes of our solution.
For instance, the point at which the file expires is crucial. We did not use duration to mark when the file expires, so as to make our implementation more universal. This is because we took into account the possibility of a file taking a longer period of time to view, such as long text for the user to read, or a long video to watch. After the user closes the file, the file is promptly deleted, preventing further unauthorised use or distribution. With this “View Once” feature, users will not be able to relook at the distributed content more than once; such a feature proves useful for instances where sensitive or private information needs to be transmitted from one party to another via the Internet. This can greatly minimise the distribution of data to unwanted users, thereby safeguarding the information contained in the digital content.
Introducing Feature 2 - the “No Tamper” feature, which prevents screenshots and screen recording of the content. As we were brainstorming, we thought of how we could further secure the contents of the file even as the user views it once. During that one-time viewing, we will need to ensure that the user cannot save parts of the content to tamper with them. This will further curb the unethical distribution of the content.
Some existing preventive measures disallow users from running a game preview after they download it. However, the limitation is that they can still screen record it and use it for their own game creation, or distribute the recording without the original owner’s permission. Such occurrences can prove to be detrimental, as content creators may not want their game assets to be revealed to the general public. This results in the reproduction of digital content despite the controlling of its usage (the playing of the game). Moreover, incomplete content such as digital art could be completed by someone else, posted online, and exploited by coming off as the ‘original art’. We identified these limitations and added this second feature to our solution.
Feature 1 is our innovative take to Digital Rights Management that aligns with current trends. “View Once” is a feature available for photo and video sharing on chatting platforms like Whatsapp and Telegram. Incorporating Feature 2 enhances the usability of our solution, as it takes into account the real-life potential actions by those trying to misuse digital content. The social and commercial value is high. Our solution can be further developed into an API, which has low cost and low barrier for usage. It also works on many different types of files, from documents, to photos, and videos.
Feature 1 is our innovative take to Digital Rights Management that aligns with current trends. “View Once” is a feature available for photo and video sharing on chatting platforms like Whatsapp and Telegram. Incorporating Feature 2 enhances the usability of our solution, as it takes into account the real-life potential actions by those trying to misuse digital content. The social and commercial value is high. Our solution can be further developed into an API, which has low cost and low barrier for usage. It also works on many different types of files, from documents, to photos, and videos.