What is a digital watermark?
The adjective of the digital concerns something, such as the text or images that are stored electronically, unlike text or data, which is in a particular form, for example, a piece of paper. The watermark in the world of publication refers to the translucent brand incorporated into paper to identify the manufacturer and/or as an authenticity sign and discourage the counterfeiter in the event of a currency. Digital watermark is the integration of analogue marks on digital files. This is related and used for the same purposes as steganography, science of hiding information.
Digital watermark can be visible or invisible. Initially, the invisible digital watermark may be useless, but in fact this type of watermark is usually designed to be invisible only on the website on which it was built and visible if the material is transferred, copied or inserted to another location. Such a digital watermark can overlook thieves or plagiarists, but serve to expose themand. On the other hand, visible watermarks can serve to discourage theft in the first place.
Further use of visible digital watermark is in demo versions of software applications. While some demos reduce use by turning off functions or a license for a limited period of time, often 30 days, others allow full use of functions indefinitely, but place digital watermark on each stored or exported files so that these files cannot be easily used or shared at any commercial location. This encourages users to buy a working copy of the software.
The third use of digital watermark is to monitor the digital file distribution. This can be done in the spirit of sending a message in the bottle and seeing where the file ends, how many times it is picked up and how it is used. Alternatively, it can be used to monitor illegal distribution.
Software products are available to help with digitalwatermark. These products help in the creation and modification of digital watermarks. Watermarks can be based on the figure - such as logo, copyright notification, website URL, or simply Word sample for images used for demonstration purposes. Digital watermark software has functions such as filters that add effects to watermarks, dose processing and image format for greater security. Digital watermark software can be either a separate software application, or it may be an additional program to expand its functionality.