copyright The stamp of authenticity


Invisible watermarks that cannot be erased should protect trust and creators, says Andrew Wiard


C


an I believe my eyes? Is this real? This tiny button within online pictures may soon reveal the answer. It’s


the newly launched Content Credentials icon (CCI). I prefer to think of it as the symbol for authenticity (or otherwise). Although created mainly for photographs, it is also being developed to cover audio and video productions.


This is not some kind of inert


kitemark. It’s interactive. One click triggers what the art world – where fraud detection is a serious business and millions are at stake – calls provenance. Right there on screen. It starts, crucially, with origin – is this a photograph? Or a photorealistic creation of generative AI? Then, as the photographer (or other producer) decides, this is followed by its life cycle, any modifications and a range of other information, which could include authorship and ownership. The CCI is the culmination of the


work of the Content Authenticity Coalition (CAI ), instigated by Adobe and now supported and developed by the widest possible range of organisations. How does it work? Some cameras already insert the necessary code into photographs as they are taken. Some AI companies do the same with every image generated. Adobe itself both recognises and preserves the code in camera originals, and encodes its generative AI pictures (selling you either fact or fiction). If the origin is not automatically encoded on creation, it can be added later using open source code or through Photoshop or other Credentials compliant software. Other information can be added, such as notices of subsequent modifications to the image, including which tools and processes were used to make those changes.


The goal is trust and authenticity – but the CAI is careful not to assert


that Content Credentials guarantees ‘truth’. What it guarantees is provenance – origin and history. How reliable is the guarantee itself?


Adobe and partners are going to considerable lengths to preserve and cryptographically seal the information recorded, including any changes, using both invisible watermarking and digital signatures. The procedures and technical details are beyond the scope of this article, but the crucial point is that they are designed to ensure that its integrity does not rely solely on image metadata, the usual source of provenance information. This is because, like all metadata, it can be altered or stripped out, intentionally or otherwise. And it cannot be locked. The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998 offers only limited protection. It prevents removal of metadata, but only insofar as it identifies the copyright owner. It requires intent, so is ineffectual against the defence of innocent infringement. It’s unlikely to be made an absolute liability offence any time soon. Adobe has pioneered a


“


This is not some kind of inert kitemark. It’s interactive. One click triggers provenance. Right there on screen


solution to this previously insuperable problem without the need for legislation. Here’s how. By using the cloud. No, not their paid-for Cloud subscription service – this one is separate and free to all Photoshop and Lightroom users. In seconds, photographs can be uploaded there, leaving a thumbnail and duplicated metadata, then returned to the photographer for publication. If metadata is then stripped, the CCI can redirect viewers to identical information, all there secure on the cloud. That’s Adobe. Others will be planning similar schemes. Software will need to be Content Credentials compatible. Websites and platforms will need to recognise the CCI. Web browsers too. So far, Chrome has the necessary extension. All this is, as they say, a work in progress, still under development. There’s a grand design but no


controller. Technical standards and specifications are set by the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), combining the work of the CAI and Project Origin, a Microsoft and BBC initiative tackling disinformation in digital news. It all depends on participating


organisations – publishers, software companies, social media platforms, agencies, broadcasters – choosing to adopt the process and putting in place the tech to enable it.


They will be establishing a world standard – de facto, without the need for legislation and complicated international treaties. In adopting this CCI process, organisations, international and otherwise, will be formally endorsing it. It’s not a new method; this is how the


International Press Telecommunications Council set the global metadata standards upon which Content Credentials now relies. Given the numbers and authority of those involved, this can surely now be only be a matter of time. What the icon displays will become required reading. Absence of evidence is not evidence of fraud but, in our business, trust is of the essence. In future years, the CCI should become as ubiquitous as the copyright symbol. This is an idea whose time has come.


theJournalist | 19


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