CDSA

The Content Delivery & Security Association (CDSA) provided an update on its working groups at the Content Protection Summit (CPS) @ NAB 2024 in Las Vegas on April 13.

During the session “The Power of Collaboration: An Update on CDSA’s Working Groups,” Richard Atkinson, CDSA president and chairman emeritus, delved into the pivotal role that working groups play in the organization that helps shape the culture and membership of the association.

Atkinson explored how the working groups foster collaboration, innovation and engagement among CDSA members, driving the association’s mission forward.

He also provided attendees with a preview of CDSA’s “Member Day” as its working groups enhance the value proposition for members, strengthen the association’s sense of community, and drive organizational success.

“I am really proud of the fact that we’ve been continuing to have some really great working groups that are solving a number of pretty big challenges, working on big challenges across the industry,” he told attendees.

Nearly 50% of those attending the session are involved with one or more of the working groups, he pointed out. “This is awesome,” he said, but encouraged those who weren’t in at least one of the working groups to  get involved.

“Find one that resonates with your role,” he suggested. “Or, if there’s a working group  that you think you need, come and see me” to get it approved by the CDSA board,” he said, adding: “We’re teeing up additional revenues.”

Among the working groups is one focused on artificial intelligence (AI), he noted. “If you’re interested in … AI … come and join us” on the AI Working Group, he said. “It meets about every two weeks. It’s about 15 minutes on news, and then we have some things to learn from in the open dialogue. But we started that really to just say, ‘Let’s just all learn together about AI and try to get smarter in that space.’” Adobe and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) are involved in that group, he pointed out.

There is also a copyright and licensing working group  that he said is “focused on that supply chain of IP out to the film and television supply chain,” he noted. Challenges they work on include the security of streaming devices, he said.

A new working group, meanwhile, addresses operational privacy, he told attendees. “We are just getting that kicked off. So sometime in the next couple of months we’ll get that moving.”

The newest working group is designed to figure out “how can we all get a little bit smarter about blockchain,” he said. After all, “for many of us, we can hardly spell blockchain,” he joked.

Blockchain is a “complicated thing, but yet it’s out there in the real world, and being used in different places, and we are all going to get questions about it sometime at some point,” he said. “So let’s all learn from it together.”  The group hasn’t met for the first time yet, he said. But “we’re meeting sometime this next month to get kicked off,” he added.

There are various CDSA members that he said “have a whole blockchain infrastructure and are going to help participate and get us a little bit smarter about how this stuff works.”

Other working groups are being considered also, he said, noting one would be focused on screeners, one on post distribution content protection and another on security and loss evaluation.

CPS is presented by Fortinet, with sponsorship by AMD, Convergent, Digital Silence, NAGRA, Prime Focus Technologies, Eluv.io and EIDR, in association with the NAB Show. The event is produced by MESA and the CDSA.