A generalization of traceability codes using ideal-based codes

Traceability codes are used in copyright protection schemes to prevent illegal redistribution of digital content. A traceability code, C, is a set of codewords with the following identification property: let z be a word that is "generated" by a coalition of codewords U⊂C; then there is at least one codeword in U that is "closer" to z than any other codeword not in U is. If the identification process is to be performed efficiently, then error-correcting codes can be used. We make use of a powerful conceptual tool, called ideal-based code (that includes Reed-Solomon, algebraic-geometric and Chinese reminder theorem codes), introduced by V. Guruswami et al., (see Proc. 41st IEEE Symp. on Foundations of Comp. Science, p.159-68, 2000), to present a general framework for the construction and decoding of traceability codes.