html5 video secure streaming?

Question

Does html5 allow me to do secure streaming video? And by this, I mean token authentication. I want to be able to stream media only to those people who are authorised to view it.

I can do this currently with Flash Media Server hosted by Akamai - they have a custom mechanism where I send them a token as part of the player connection handshake. Does html5 allow for this, and has anyone implemented this with a hosting service such as Akamai?

Thanks Matt

Answer 1

Assuming you mean that users have to be logged on and allowed to view a particular piece of content then html5 by itself does not do this.

One way is to have the server check details before serving the video, the easiest being a script (php/etc.) that checks if a user is allowed and then streams the file to the user.

Answer 2

HTTP Digest is highly secure, and you should want to think about using it anyway over cookies, unless slick UI is really important to you. HTML does not have authentication because that is the role of lower levels, like HTTP.