Technique for securely communicating and storing programming material in a trusted domain

Abstract

A 'trusted domain' is established within which content received from a communications network, e.g., a cable TV network, is protected from unauthorized copying thereof, in accordance with the invention. In an illustrative embodiment, the trusted domain includes a device associated with a user which receives content from the cable TV network. The content may be encrypted using a content key in accordance, e.g., with a 3DES encryption algorithm before it is stored in the device. In addition, a first encrypted content key version and a second encrypted content key version are generated by respectively encrypting the content key with a public key associated with the device and another public key associated with the user, in accordance with public key cryptography. The first and second encrypted content key versions are stored in association with the encrypted content in the device storage. The encrypted content can be migrated from a first device to a second device, and can be decrypted in the second device if the second device is associated with the same user, and also provided with the second encrypted content key version.