INFORMATION PROCESSING DEVICE AND METHOD, RECORDING MEDIUM, AND PROGRAM

摘要

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and method, a recording medium, and a program which make it possible for persons at remote places to enjoy simultaneous playback of various contents while promoting the protection of the copyright or the privacy. A copyright authentication section 112 decides, based on copyright restriction information added to a content and license information stored in a license storage section 62, whether or not utilization of the content is permitted. An accounting processing section 114 is controlled in response to a result of the decision so that it cooperates with an authentication sever to perform an accounting process. A privacy authentication section 115 decides, based on privacy restriction information added to the content and privacy information, whether or not utilization of the content is permitted. A permission request processing section 117 is controlled in response to a result of the decision so that it performs a communication process with a communication apparatus, which has a privacy management right in the content. The present invention can be applied to a communication system which supports remote place communication between users.