Overview of traitor tracing schemes

Abstract

Traitor tracing schemes were designed for use in a broadcast/network environment where piracy is a major problem. Legitimate receivers of propriety content often aid a pirate and are referred to as 'traitors'. Traitor tracing schemes attempt to trace piracy back to its original source, so that the content provider has some means of recourse against them. This paper endeavours to provide a brief survey of the stat of traitor tracing technology. A uniform analysis of the major work in this area is presented and comparisons are made between the competing schemes. Such comparisons are based on performance benchmarks such as the memory and computation requirements of both the content supplier and users, as well as the broadcast overhead involved. Specifically, traitor tracing schemes can be classified into several main groups depending on how the key distribution is performed and the environment in which the scheme operates. These classifications include symmetric/asymmetric, static/dynamic and alternative. Neither model is superior to the others and is conditional on the application for which the traitor tracing is desired.