How to prevent pirating/unauthorized downloads?

[bloomphotog]

I have recommended SmugMug for a client who needs to lock down their video content as much as possible. Currently, he's able to rip a copy of any of his videos using Firefox Video Download Helper(plugin).

Does anyone have any suggestions to help prevent/minimize unauthorized video downloads?

[SiriusPhotog]

I have recommended SmugMug for a client who needs to lock down their video content as much as possible. Currently, he's able to rip a copy of any of his videos using Firefox Video Download Helper(plugin).

Does anyone have any suggestions to help prevent/minimize unauthorized video downloads?

Either don't post them or watermark them. That's really about your only options. As long as there's pirates there will be pirating..... unfortunately.

[colourbox]

If a movie gets cached to your hard drive in its entirety, which is the case with nearly all Flash-based video, it's vulnerable to being picked off by downloader apps. About the only way to prevent this is to use pure streaming (not used by Smugmug as far as I know), which only sends the bits you're about to watch so that the whole movie is never present on the viewer's drive at once. But even this can be "ripped" by running screen recorder software, the kind that records anything that happens on the screen for tutorials and such. Really, any tech that puts the movie on a remote screen can be recorded by that remote computer that way. I guess the only effective way to really discourage piracy is send them a VHS tape, and even then there are analog importers...

I only see pure streaming on a few news sites. It's generally not something made available to us.

[SamirD]

If you can figure out why people are downloading them, then maybe you can figure out where to concentrate efforts to prevent theft. Sometimes the reason they steal is actually something you can monetize.