A content protection network (also called content protection system or web content protection) is a term for anti-

web scraping Web scraping, web harvesting, or web data extraction is data scraping used for extracting data from websites. Web scraping software may directly access the World Wide Web using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol or a web browser. While web scrapin ...

services provided through a

cloud infrastructure Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage ( cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over mul ...

. A content protection network is claimed to be a technology that protects websites from unwanted web scraping,

web harvesting Web scraping, web harvesting, or web data extraction is data scraping used for extracting data from websites. Web scraping software may directly access the World Wide Web using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol or a web browser. While web scraping ...

blog scraping {{unreferenced, date=May 2008 Blog scraping is the process of scanning through a large number of blogs, usually through the use of automated software, searching for and copying content. The software and the individuals who run the software are somet ...

, data harvesting, and other forms of access to data published through the

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web ...

. A good content protection network will use various algorithms, checks, and validations to distinguish between desirable search engine

web crawler A Web crawler, sometimes called a spider or spiderbot and often shortened to crawler, is an Internet bot that systematically browses the World Wide Web and that is typically operated by search engines for the purpose of Web indexing (''web spid ...

s and human beings on the one hand, and

Internet bot An Internet bot, web robot, robot or simply bot, is a software application that runs automated tasks (scripts) over the Internet, usually with the intent to imitate human activity on the Internet, such as messaging, on a large scale. An Internet b ...

s and automated agents that perform unwanted access on the other hand. A few web application firewalls have begun to implement limited bot detection capabilities.

History

The protection of copyrighted content has a long tradition, but technical tricks and mechanisms are more recent developments. For example,

map A map is a symbolic depiction emphasizing relationships between elements of some space, such as objects, regions, or themes. Many maps are static, fixed to paper or some other durable medium, while others are dynamic or interactive. Although ...

s have sometimes been drawn with deliberate mistakes to protect the authors' copyright if someone else copies the map without permission. In 1998, a system called ''SiteShield'' eased the fears of theft and illicit re-use expressed by content providers who publish copyright-protected images on their websites. A research report published in November 2000 by IBM was one of the first to document a working system for web content protection, called ''WebGuard''. Around 2002, several companies in the music recording industry had been issuing non-standard

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Oc ...

s with deliberate errors burned into them, as copy protection measures.

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

also notably installed an automated system to help detect and block

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

video uploads with content that entail

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...

. However, as individuals and enterprises engaged in computer crime have become more skilled and sophisticated, they erode the effectiveness of established perimeter-based security controls. The response is more pervasive use of data encryption technologies. Forrester Research asserted in 2011 that there is an industry-wide "drive toward consolidated content security platforms", and they predict in 2012 that "proliferating malware threats will require better threat intelligence". Forrester also asserts that content protection networks (especially in the form of

software as a service Software as a service (SaaS ) is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. SaaS is also known as "on-demand software" and Web-based/Web-hosted software. SaaS is con ...

, or SaaS) enable companies to protect against both e-mail and web-borne theft of content. In some web applications, security is defined by URL patterns that identify protected content. For example, using the web.xml security-constraint element, content could be assigned values of NONE, INTEGRAL, and CONFIDENTIAL to describe the necessary transport guarantees.

References

{{Reflist Internet terminology Web technology

History

See also

References