Veracity of digital content
Let’s start with the fact that there is a growing focus on understanding whether a digital content is unchanged, the result of a generation through artificial intelligence* or has been manipulated in its form. This curiosity, although at first glance it may seem strange or even perverse, raises the dilemma of ensuring that a digital content – for example, a photograph – is really original and not manipulated. Even the “casalinga di Voghera” would certainly applaud the idea of seeing a certification stamp on each image, testifying that it has not been manipulated. In this context, the widespread opinion is that it is necessary to converge towards a common standard capable, in any case, of certifying the authenticity of the contents.
What could be the privacy implications of these principles, which seem to be shared?
From back data to EXIF data
With the photographic film it was possible to print the date information of the date by purchasing a digital accessory that printed the date 1 on the film. More sophisticated devices were produced that did not alter the photographic image but, inserted in the vertical space between one photo and the next, the date information.
With the digital photo you have achieved a great step forward in the information, metadata, which are incorporated into the photo thanks to the data of EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) records a series of technical and contextual information of the shot, including date and time, model and camera brand, opening settings, exposure time, ISO, focal length, eventual coordinate GPS and orientation of the image. These data allow to reconstruct the conditions of shooting and facilitate the management and organization of photos.
The indiscriminate publication on social media of their photos with localization data raised ** privacy problems**.
C2PA a dangerous protocol
The Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity, or C2PA , provides an open technical standard for publishers, creators and consumers to establish the origin and modification of digital content. It is called Content Credentials and ensures that content complies with standards as the digital ecosystem evolves.
You can check how it works and check digital content cr contentcredentials: AVI, AVIF, DNG, HAIC, HEIF, JPEG, M4A, MOV, MP3, MP4, PDF, PNG, SVG, TIFF, WAW, WebP.
Here we go: C2PA cryptographer check check you out!
Authenticity is the key to reading the spirit of C2PA, linked to digital transparency and the fight against disinformation and manipulation of artificial intelligence. It represents a challenge for technical solutions – let’s face it all – and is also a mass control form. Every digital production will know its origin, accompanied by a myriad of information that we cannot even imagine today.
The alteration of certified content is a dangerous land: makes credible digital elements manipulated or fraudulently attributes to others what has been artificially created.
What are the members of the steering committee?
- Adobe
- Amazon
- BBC
- Intel
- Meta
- Microsoft
- OpenAI
- Publicis Groupe
- Sony
Some Considerations
Images have always been manipulated in contents and subtitles2.
The censorship of the images in the Soviet Union resulted in the disappearance of people; At the time there were no photo editing programs and no computers, but the changes were the result of the work in the photographer’s darkroom.
A meeting of the St. Petersburg chapter of the Union of Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class in February 1897. Shortly after the picture was taken the whole group was arrested by the Okhrana. From left to right (standing) : A.L. Malchenko, P. K. Zaporozhets, Anatoly Vaneyev. (sitting) : Victor V. Starkov, Gleb Krzhizhanovsky, Vladimir Lenin and Julius Martov. Saint Petersburg, 1897 - Fonte
A meeting of the St. Petersburg chapter of the Union of Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class in February 1897. Shortly after the picture was taken the whole group was arrested by the Okhrana. The photograph was altered later : Alexander Malchenko has been edited out. From left to right (standing) : P. K. Zaporozhets, A. A. Vaneyev. (sitting) : Victor V. Starkov, Gleb Krzhizhanovsky, Vladimir Lenin and Julius Martov. Saint Petersburg, 1897 - Fonte
What about the stenography?
stegnography is the technique that allows you to hide a message within a medium without the observer noticing its presence. Unlike cryptography, which makes the content unreadable but highlights its existence, the occult steganography to the message making it practically invisible, so that it can be transported discreetly.
1500 the first treaty of STEGNOGRAPHIA : Hoc est: ARS PER OCCVLTAM SCRIPTVRAM ANIMI SVI VOLVNTATEM ABSENTIBVS aperiendi certa; AVTHORE REVERENDISSIMO ET CLARISSIMO VIRO, IOANNE TRITHEMIO3
“There is someone who is accused of a crime of treason or something else: he wants to be punished by his official from whom he is very far away, but he does not want to write to him, for fear that the offender will be caught accidentally revealing the letters and fleeing, or resist with the forces of his friends tied to him, or plot something sinister against the prince or the laws of his country. He writes this or any other account to his prefect, who does not fear being read by everyone: but entrusts the secret to the Spirit, in the way we have said, that he will faithfully tell his secret to the one to whom he is sent, having been previously instructed in this art.”
No one can guarantee us the absence of hidden elements in our digital documents, it is time to reflect on them.
Dida Effect, represents a manipulation of the information, that is a title accompanying a photo ( caption) that does not reflect the reality of the photo itself. ↩︎
Ioanne Trithemio was a esoterist, historian, writer, lexicographer, astrologer, humanist, cryptographer, occultist and universal German man. ↩︎