Tracking a file on internet

emetib · 12-06-2005, 11:17 PM

Can someone help me with this question:

How can I track a file once it hits the internet? I was reading an article about this and would like to know how it is done.

I'm interested in tracking a funny video file.
I'd like to keep track of how many times the file is viewed after I publish it. So .. if I e-mail it to you and you share it with friends and so on .. I'd like to embed a code that tells me how many different times it was watched.

thanks in advance

sde · 12-07-2005, 12:20 AM

i don't know much about embedding video, .. but if there is a way you can call a url, .. you can make a script on a web server that increments a value in a text file or database everytime it is called.

Belisarius · 12-07-2005, 01:02 AM

I think you'd have to take advantage of DRM in some fashion.

sde · 12-07-2005, 08:50 AM

you could always just make it a flash video (.flv) and load it up in a flash player. it would make it so *most* people could only view it from the website it is embedded in. then you could just monitor page hits.

emetib · 12-07-2005, 02:05 PM

sde

... calling a URL is along the thoughts I had in mind. NOT a video embeded in an executable "phone home" type script. More along the lines of an action script Get/Post URL. I'm not certain how to do this with a .mpg or .avi file though. There must be a way! ... Javascript perhaps??

The AP article on excite.com I was reading was about tracking a files views no matter what format it is produced in AND no matter how it is shared. (P2P, e-mail, direct download, CD, etc.)

emetib · 12-07-2005, 02:09 PM

Belisarius

I have not heard about DRM. I didn't find any other posts in this forum about this. can you lead me to a link about it and explain how it can be utilized?

thanks

teknomage1 · 12-07-2005, 11:04 PM

DRM just stands for Digital Rights Management (or digital restrictions management if you're cynical like me). Most DRM technologies provide a way to call home to "authorize" a file for viewing. If you set yourself up as the authorizing authority, then you will get a call everytime it is viewed by DRM enabled players. It's not likely to win you a lot of friends though.

Belisarius · 12-08-2005, 01:14 AM

Wikipedia is the natural starting point for information on the subject.

emetib · 12-09-2005, 02:37 PM

Ok I don't think DRM is necessary
I found the link to the original article I read but the article is gone :<

apnews.excite.com/article/20051030/D8DIJ9R08.html

Here is a similar article about file tracking.

"The technology, which also tracks the content as it is shared across the Web, is not limited to amateurs."

http://www.informationweek.com/story...leID=173401845