Patent ID: 8365299

Claim:
An information processing apparatus which communicates with different information processing apparatuses connected thereto through a network, comprising: a first decision section configured to decide, based on copyright restriction information from an authentication server included in content data, whether or not utilization of the content data is permitted; a second decision section configured to decide, based on personal restriction information including a privacy level of the information processing apparatus relative to a sharing group to which the information processing apparatus belongs and included in the content data by one of the different information processing apparatuses other than the authentication server, whether or not utilization of the content data is permitted; a sharing decision section configured to decide whether or not utilization of the content data is permitted based on a comparison between shared terminal number restriction information of sharing restriction information included in the content data and a number of the different information processing apparatuses performing synchronous playback with the information processing apparatus; and a synchronous playback section configured to play back, when it is decided by said first, second, and sharing decision sections that utilization of the content data is permitted, the content data in synchronism with the different information processing apparatuses.