Privacy in an identity-based DRM system

The present paper addresses privacy issues in electronic audio/video content distribution. It introduces an identity-based rights distribution and management system that enables users to access content anytime, anywhere, and on any device by means of authorization certificates issued by a content provider. These certificates openly link the identity of the users to the content that they are entitled to access. This fact, together with the availability of the certificates everywhere in the network, raises user privacy issues. A solution is proposed which deals with these issues and still allows the device to securely check the user's entitlement to the content.