Loading secret FLV files from Amazon S3

Question

I'm starting a new project that involves users paying to see educational videos. These videos (FLV) are hosted with Amazon S3 while the site itself is hosted on a regular web host.

I've tried to read up on securing the S3 files, and can't find any good solution for this. I don't want my users to download the videos directly.

I read something about setting up a HTTP streaming server, but I'm not quite sure how a service like this works, and how to set it up.

Anybody with any experiences on how to solve this?

Answer 1

There is no way to hide network path from end-user. However, you can go using expiring passwords that depend on time, user and content-section if Amazon allows you to use .htaccess files or PHP scripts.

Answer 2

I don't want my users to download the videos directly.

Get used to it.

Even with an RTMP streaming server, it's pretty easy to save the streams. You can add a load of obfuscation at the server and decoder to try to defeat the automated tools, but in the end what you have here is the unsolvable Copy Protection Problem.