An information processing device and method as well as a program storage medium, in which to determine whether or not contents can be recorded on a recording medium, the presence or absence of digital watermark information distributed associated with the contents is detected, and if the digital watermark information is present, the survival rate of the digital watermark information is detected, and it is determined whether or not the contents can be recorded on the recording medium on the basis of the presence or absence of the digital watermark information and the survival rate of the digital watermark information. In this way, it is possible to prevent effectively an infringement of the copyright on the contents that have been distributed via a network to a great number of terminal units.