Method for media fingerprinting

A method comprising:

• receiving, from a plurality of end-users of a content aggregator, by the content aggregator, a plurality of content items;
• the content aggregator allowing a second plurality of end-users to access the plurality of content items;
• receiving, from an end-user, at the content aggregator, a particular content item;
• transforming, by the content aggregator using a particular technique, the particular content item into a first intermediate digest, wherein the first intermediate digest is an obfuscated version of the particular content item;
• generating, by the content aggregator, a first fingerprint from the first intermediate digest using a fingerprint algorithm;
• receiving, by the content aggregator, from a content owner, a second intermediate digest that is an obfuscated version of a content item;
• generating, by the content aggregator, a second fingerprint from the second intermediate digest using the fingerprint algorithm;
• and
• comparing the first fingerprint with the second fingerprint;
• determining that the particular content item is illegal content based at least in part on a determination that the first fingerprint matches the second fingerprint;
• wherein the method is performed by one or more machines.

A system comprising:

• a content aggregator, executing on one or more computing devices, that is configured to:
• receive content items from end-users;
• and
• allow end-users to access the content items;
• wherein the content aggregator is further configured to determine whether content items that are received from end-users are illegal by executing a method that comprises:
• receiving, from an end-user, a particular content item;
• generating, by the content aggregator, a first fingerprint of the particular content item;
• retrieving a first owner-provided fingerprint that is generated by a first content owner;
• determining whether the first fingerprint matches the first owner-provided fingerprint;
• generating, by the content aggregator, a second fingerprint of the particular content item, wherein the second fingerprint is different than the first fingerprint;
• retrieving a second owner-provided fingerprint that is generated by a second content owner that is different than the first content owner;
• and
• determining whether the second fingerprint matches the second owner-provided fingerprint;
• and
• determining that the particular content item is illegal content based at least in part on a determination that the first fingerprint matches the first owner-provided fingerprint or the second fingerprint matches the second owner provided fingerprint.