Digital Tech Start-Up Custos Media Technologies Aims To Use Watermarking Technology To Protect Digital Media Files
Digital Tech Start-Up Custos Media Technologies Aims To Use Watermarking Technology To Protect Digital Media Files.
Custos Media Technologies uses imperceptible watermarking technology and the Bitcoin blockchain to protect digital media files from online piracy. Before Custos, if one wanted to use forensic watermarking to protect their content, they had to look for pirated content themselves or pay a company that specializes in (centralised) pirated content detection to do it.
Custos decentralises the search for leaked content to human bounty hunters across the globe, so it can pick up things machines would miss, and it’s clients can enjoy 24/7 global, online and offline monitoring – even into the dark web, behind paywalled pirated content, private file sharing groups, and campus networks. Custos’ forensic watermarking module goes beyond fingerprinting to link specific copies of leaked content. Using its human-powered detection model, the company can help its clients plug leaks in their distribution network with precision, offering near instant infringement reports. The Custos Core API can be integrated with any third-party watermark providers to add cryptocurrency incentives and global leak detection troops to their content distribution workflow.
Custos Media Technologies was spun out of the prestigious MIH Media Lab at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, in 2013. The underlying technology was invented by an experienced cross-disciplinary team specialising in signal processing, distribution systems, cryptocurrency, machine learning, and media and behavioural economics
Since then the team has grown to include various experts in the fields of watermarking technology, the economics of piracy, and the use of decentralised systems and the Bitcoin blockchain. Custos has developed a full stack of modular products that can be combined to meet the needs of a range of media customers in different markets and regions.
