Equitable Conditional Access and Copyright Protection for Image Based on Trusted Third Parties

Jean-Marc Boucqueau, Sylvie Lacroix, Benoît Macq, Jean-Jacques Quisquater

Abstract: Image communication needs new cryptological tools for conditional access, copyright protection and image authentication. The aim of this paper is to overview the corresponding systems' features. The design of efficient copyright protection by watermarking images and image authentication by signatures is also briefly discussed. It is shown that equitable systems need the use of a Trusted Third Party, and a possible solution is presented. The implementation of this new function in the multimedia world strongly differs from that in the Electronic Data Interchange environment where it is already well known. This difference will also be detailed.