SAN DIEGO, Calif. – In an effort to help studios protect their copyrighted content from online thieves, a hosting company has launched a new software service it calls Pirate ID.

According to a spokesperson for Red Apple Media, the product allows studios and their legal teams to identify content pirates by uncovering the suspects’ usernames and IP addresses. The software embeds surreptitious, encrypted information in every downloaded file. If Pirate ID-tagged content is discovered on a file-sharing site, the content’s owner can use the encrypted information to track the origin of the material. Only the content owner is able to decrypt the code, Red Apple co-owner and founder Steven Daris said.

“Pirate ID was developed to provide clients with another indispensible tool to keep their online businesses running at full potential,” he averred. “Our in-house development team works full-steam to create user-friendly and effective protection, storage and streaming technologies that help modernize and streamline our clients’ online businesses.”