Can Giovanni watermarks prevent someone from making a copy?
No. This is a fundamental problem encountered in the digital world – the “copy problem”. Although many “secure” and “trusted systems” approaches are proposed, even at the hardware level, such systems can always be circumvented by those who understand the system. Instead of trying to stop the process of making copies, Giovanni watermarks are the only available system that makes it possible to securely assign responsibility for individual copies. People will be less likely to make and distribute unlicensed copies if they know that such copies can be traced back to them. If a publisher obtains an illegal copy, they can identify the culprit, or check the authenticity of the copy and destroy it. Trusted systems, such as those proposed by InterTrust, IBM (under their InfoMarket program), or WAVE Systems, are unlikely to give the copyright holder control over copyrights, as the security is left to a third party. Moreover, “escrow” or control over the content is similarly given to third partie
