Adobe Offers DRM with Flash Media Rights Management Server

Adobe today announced the availability of its Flash Media Rights Management Server, a product that runs on Windows Server 2003 and Red Hat Linux and offers content protection and business rules for playback and repurposing of offline content.

The Rights Management Server is designed to sit alongside the Flash Media Streaming Server or Flash Media Interactive Server and protect streaming content. The company is positioning Adobe Flash Media Rights Management Server as a way to "protect and controls media content downloaded in FLV (Spark or VP6 codec) or MPEG4 (H.264 codec) format and played back on local desktop.

Industry interest seems to be positive.

"Safeguarding digital media assets from unauthorized usage is a key component of our online strategy," said Richard Berger, SVP of new media & technology for Sony Pictures Entertainment in a press release. "We are pleased to see Adobe launch the Flash Media Rights Management Server and look forward to exploring its ability to enable new and secure distribution models with our partners."

Perhaps the most interesting facet of the Rights Management Server is its protection of offline content on Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) applications on Windows and Macintosh client machines, including the soon-to-be-released Adobe Media Player (AMP).

"Content owners can use Adobe Flash Media Rights Management Server to encrypt FLV and F4V audio and video files that are downloaded and played locally," Adobe said in today’s press release, noting that business rules can be used to sets policies for this offline content’s access.

When asked about this feature during a pre-briefing in February, Adobe representatives said that content could be set to require confirmation of playback each time—meaning that a device would require an internet connection each time "offline" content was accessed—or could be set to require a connection every so many days, weeks, or months.

"We don’t want to limit what the market is able to do with our rights management tools," said Laurel Reitman, senior product manager for Flash Media Server Services.