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There is a “window” on the back of the Canon EOS R1 that seemed to stump us nerds who obsess over the smallest details, but it may actually be a cool detail.
On August 31, 2023, Canon Inc. announced that they had completed a pilot project that focused on authenticating photographs using cryptography. It was a partnership between Thomson Reuters, Canon Inc. Canon Europe and Starling Lab, which is a research lab based at Stanford University and USC.
You can see a full example of the technology at Reuters: Preserving trust in photojournalism through authentication technology. As pointed out by @Klexisnake, who lead me down this rabbit hole. You can check the metadata of the images and you will see the camera identified as the Canon EOS R3. The press release does mention a “prototype Canon camera”, so I think it’s likely that the camera identifier was changed for proof of concept, as the EOS R3 was a commercially available product at the time.
Though I will note, the files sizes are 6000×4000. 😉 Or I could be completely wrong and it is in fact, a rear selfie camera.
Instead of me pretending that I know what I’m talking about, here is the original press release.
Canon & Reuters team up in developing cryptographic methods to authenticate photographs
TOKYO, August 31, 2023—Thomson Reuters, a global content and technology company, Canon Inc., and Canon Europe Ltd., a world-leading provider of imaging and information technology solutions, and Starling Lab, an academic research lab based at Stanford and USC innovating with the latest cryptographic methods and decentralized web protocols, announced today the completion of a pilot program demonstrating how news organizations could certify the authenticity of an image and ease concerns about content’s legitimacy.
In collaboration with Canon, global news organization Reuters proved its ability to embed trust into a photograph from its source by preserving a picture’s data provenance chain of integrity – the image’s metadata – from the point of capture to publication. Reuters also successfully integrated Starling Lab’s authentication framework into its picture desk workflow. One of the first practical news-gathering applications of the technology, this pilot comes at a time when consumers are increasingly worried about their ability to distinguish between real and fake news on the internet, and recent advancements in generative AI technologies which are making it easier for anyone to create visuals to deceive or misinform viewers.
“Trust in news is critical. However, recent technological advancements in image generation and manipulation are causing more people to question what is real, and what is not. Reuters continues to explore new technologies to guarantee that the content we deliver to the world be factual and trusted,” said Rickey Rogers, Global Editor, Reuters Pictures. “Our collaboration with Canon demonstrates the potential for new technology in image verification to increase consumers’ confidence that what they see is genuine. We look forward to sharing the encouraging findings from the project with our customers and applying them to protect our photojournalism. Our goal is to remain one of the most trusted global news sources.”
The pilot project saw Reuters photojournalist Violeta Santos Moura capture pictures using a prototype Canon camera that digitally assigns each photograph and its corresponding time, date and location with a unique identifier (hash value) and then cryptographically signs them to establish a root of trust for their authenticity. The photos are then registered into a public blockchain and updated after each modification by the Reuters pictures desk. This process continues until the photo is distributed with its metadata, edit history and blockchain registration embedded in the photograph using the new C2PA standard. To verify the picture’s authenticity, news customers can compare its unique identifier (hash value) on the public ledger.
“Many photojournalists rely on Canon technologies. We understand the role that images play in society and recognise the importance of preserving image authenticity”, said Richard Shepherd, Product Marketing and Marketing Strategy Senior Manager, Canon Europe Ltd. “Working as part of the Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI), Canon wants to take meaningful measures to protect image outputs that serve the news community worldwide.”
Thanks to @Klexisnake
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