Watermark Movies Find Positions of Camcorders in Theaters

We all know pirates use camcorders to record new release movies in theaters and recently there hasn't been a universal way to prevent this illegal activity, at least until now. The IEEE has published information about a new watermarking technology that could soon find its way into movies near you!

The new deterrent of camcorder piracy involves a system for estimating the recording position from which a camcorder recording is made. It's based on spread-spectrum audio watermarking and is extremely accurate, able to pinpoint a camcorder to the exact seat number the person was sitting. This could mean the days of giving out $500 and $1,000 rewards to theater employees that spot pirates and days of using the night-vision goggles could soon be over.

Audiophiles need not to worry, the watermarking process added to movie soundtracks apparently do not significantly spoil the subjective acoustic quality which means the technology could probably be implemented in most if not all movies.

For the system to work, it would also be the responsibility of the theater to keep a video record of everyone's identify and seating position in every auditorium so that anyone caught by the system could be turned over to the authorities. This in itself could pose significant costs for the theaters, but I'm sure the MPAA wouldn't mind helping to the cause.

You can report movie piracy to the MPAA and find out more about the new piracy system at IEEE.