How can I prevent/make it hard to download my flash video?

Question

I want to at least prevent normal users to download my flash video.

What's the best way to do it?

Create a httphandler, add a token (e.g. timeid), set the cache control to no-cache so that only the users with correct token can view the correct video. Is that feasible?

It is the requirement from client that the video should not be downloaded by users and should be watched only in the particular website.

I want to know if this works: http://www.somesite.com/video.swf?time=1248319067

Server will generate a token(time in the above example) so that user can only have one request to this link. If the user wants to watch the video again, he needs to go to our website to get the token again. Is this okay to prevent novices from downloading?

I can't download this flash video by the downloadHelper firefox plugin: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8164177.stm

Updated (13:49 pm 2009/07/23): The above file can be downloaded using some video download software.

The video files of following Chinese sites are well protected (I can't download it using many video download software): http://programme.tvb.com/drama/abrideforaride/video/

Do you know how it is done?

Answer 1

I dont think there is an easy way to stop people from getting your videos if they want them,

there are plenty of plugins for firefox that allow downloading from even youtube and many places. And i imagine those plugins would disable any attempt you made to hide your videos.

not too terribly different than taking an image from flicker, they put a clear gif image over the image that you want to view, so that when you right click and save you get "the shield" image, however can be defeated by the lowly print screen button.

if you want casual users from getting your file, use a flash control and buffer a minute or two of your videos and make that flash authenticate with the server to get those files. that seems reasonable to me