Monday, November 3, 2003		ITerminology

Digital watermark: Also referred to as simply watermarking, a pattern of bits inserted into a digital image, audio or video file that identifies the file’s copyright information (author, rights, etc.). The name comes from the faintly visible watermarks imprinted on stationery that identify the manufacturer of the stationery. The purpose of digital watermarks is to provide copyright protection for intellectual property that’s in digital format.

MPEG 21: A comprehensive standard framework for networked digital multimedia designed by the Moving Picture Experts Group. MPEG-21 includes an REL and a Rights Data Dictionary. Unlike other MPEG standards that describe compression coding methods, MPEG-21 describes a standard that defines the description of content and also processes for accessing, searching, storing and protecting the copyrights of content.

Blowfish: A symmetric encryption algorithm designed by Bruce Schneier in 1993 as an alternative to existing encryption algorithms, such as DES. Blowfish is a 64-bit block cipher (i.e., a cryptographic key and algorithm are applied to a block of data rather than single bits) that uses a key length that can vary between 32 and 448 bits. Blowfish is available for free use by any, and the technology is unpatented and free of license.