This is the demo of a desktop application that creates an ISCC for a PDF and EPUB version of an e-book. Watch how the second component, the Content-ID, is identical in spite of the fact that the file data is completely different.

What is the ISCC?

With the emergence of blockchain technology the internet is moving towards a network of peer-to-peer transactions. Dynamic, short-lived and granular content needs to be managed and require new and innovative tools.

Distributing, licensing and re/selling digital content on a global scale is often an all too complicated and inefficient process. Identifiers are randomly and ambiguously applied to content files, metadata or license terms are often incoherent and loosely attached to the content, distributed in separate (ONIX) files, or subject to individual legal negotiations – all of this is time-consuming an prone to errors and manual interventions.

Freely accessible standard identifiers, which are specifically designed to manage digital content, are a fundamental prerequisite for efficient transactions in a decentralized and increasingly heterogeneous media environment. The ISCC (International Standard Content Code) is the first open, generic identifier designed for digital media content. It can be used to register content on the blockchain and also in off-chain environments.

Features

The ISCC is an modern algorithmic identifier with unique features that support advanced machine learning applications. It can also be used to de-duplicate or find similar content. It addresses two crucial issues of online transactions:

The ISCC is a fingerprint of the actual content, created by standardized hashing algorithms. It allows to identify content unambiguously in a decentralized manner, meaning that any party with access to the content itself can reliably create its ID, even on a local device, offline.
With the ISCC being registered on an open and decentralized blockchain ledger, access to title metadata and license information can be provided by the rights owner on-chain – or even off-chain. Thus, by inseparably connecting content, ID, metadata and license information, sales transactions of digital media content can be facilitated in a more simple and seamless way.

The ISCC (International Standard Content Code) is a modern, generic, and free content identifier. It comes with a number of features built-in:

Content Identification
Decentralized Issuance
Designed for Blockchain
Content Versioning
Related Product Identification
Granular Content Management
Content Variant Detection
Proof of Data Possession

See more information on the features, here: https://iscc.codes/features

Standardization

The ISCC will be even more useful the more users agree on the suggested standard procedure of hashing the content in order to create the content’s unique ID. The ISCC currently is a new work item proposal at the proposal stage at ISO/TC 46/SC 9.