Interview with Alexander Leschinsky, CEO and Co-Founder, G&L Systemhaus
Why is it particularly important in the streaming technology industry to determine the provenance of content?
As we all know, in today’s digital age, content can be created and manipulated with unprecedented ease. AI and deepfakes can result in highly realistic, yet fake media. This poses significant challenges, particularly in the streaming technology industry, where the integrity of content is paramount. For public broadcasters and other content providers, ensuring that their audiences can trust the authenticity of what they are viewing is crucial. Content provenance helps us to trace the origin and verify the authenticity of media, thereby maintaining the credibility of content providers and reducing the risk of viewers getting misinformation.
Your company recently joined the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA). Can you tell us more about C2PA and why this is a significant step for G&L?
Absolutely. C2PA is a collaborative initiative aimed at developing technical standards for certifying the source and authenticity of media content. Formed by industry leaders like Adobe, Arm, Intel, Microsoft, and Truepic, C2PA combines efforts from the Adobe led Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI) and Project Origin, which is driven by Microsoft and the BBC to combat disinformation in digital news. By joining C2PA, G&L is committing to a future where the origin and processing of media content can be verified with certainty. This reinforces our dedication to innovation and equips our customers with the necessary tools to assure their viewers of the authenticity of their content.
We are especially happy to closely partner with Truepic here, key drivers and veterans in the young ecosystem of C2PA. With their extensive C2PA toolkit, they help us to implement this standard quickly and efficiently for our customers. We will present first showcases created with their
tools at IBC 2024 in Amsterdam.
How do C2PA’s standards help in verifying and tracking content, and what are the advantages for your customers?
C2PA’s standards establish a framework for embedding metadata within digital content that records its origin and any alterations it undergoes. This metadata acts like a digital fingerprint, providing a transparent history of the content. For our customers, particularly public broadcasters, this means they can provide proof of authenticity to their audiences, which is invaluable in maintaining trust. Intellectual property can be better documented, and the spread of misinformation can be combated. The ability to track and verify content enhances the overall integrity of the media ecosystem. That said, C2PA does not solve all of these challenges, at least not in the current version of the standards. There is a lot of active work going on to further increase the integrity of media content and further reduce the risk of malicious abuse.
So, the C2PA standard establishes proof for authenticity. But what about controlling access to copyrighted material – the keyword being Digital Rights Management (DRM)?
Indeed, this is a critical area we have been focused on at G&L for quite some time, and we’ve now formalized it with our official partnership with EZDRM. They offer a straightforward, one-stop solution for protecting and monetizing video content. Like G&L, EZDRM has been in the streaming industry for over 20 years, providing global secure delivery of video services and eliminating proprietary integration and format concerns. EZDRM’s straightforward approach to Digital Rights Management ensures that G&L’s OTT solutions are secure and accessible on any consumer device.
How do you see the role of content provenance evolving in the future, especially with advancing technologies?
As unauthentic content is easier as every to create, and has started to even threaten democracy, the need for robust content provenance will only grow. We anticipate that verifying the authenticity of media will become a standard practice across various sectors, not just in streaming technology. We even expect legal requirements being introduced around this, most likely in the context of the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Acts, the European Media Freedom Act, or the German Network Enforcement Act. Future innovations will likely lead to more sophisticated tools and standards, further ensuring content integrity. At G&L, we are excited to be part of this evolution, for instance by participating in the C2PA. The ultimate goal is to create a digital environment where authenticity is the norm, and audiences can trust the media they consume.
For those who do not yet know G&L, could you please briefly introduce the company and its mission?
G&L has been a pioneer in the streaming industry since the late 1990s. We started by assisting major public broadcasters in Germany navigate their first steps into streaming, helping them transition their content from traditional TV to the Internet. When we established the G&L Systemhaus in 2005, we laid the foundation for what we continue to offer our clients today: a comprehensive hub for all their streaming needs under one roof. Our mission is to enable clients to easily deliver audio and video content – live and on-demand, on-premises, in the cloud, and hybrid. We are trusted by Europe’s largest broadcasters, as well as leading events and government entities. Beyond our commitment to protecting content, G&L is dedicated to ensuring that digital media processing and delivery are both efficient and sustainable. This makes us the perfect partner to help clients build and maintain reliable and eco-friendly streaming setups
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