Mt Spokane Photography said:
marekjoz said:
Mt Spokane Photography said:
Probably. That way, when someone graps your camera and has no software, they can change it immediately and show everyone its theirs.
That is a concern I have. I always have the canon utility installed on my pc, and adding the information is a one time thing. Its nice to have it difficult for a thief to remove, I wish there was a password.
... and Canon could provide a list of stolen gear, so when trying to use DPP on a stolen gear it would report this to authorities
Who would like such a feature? Helpful but big-brother-ish. Like reporting one's speed exceeding in a driven car.
How would that work? I do not see lens serial numbers in the exif info. Canon would call the police and report someone used a body that was reported stolen, but they don't know who or where they are? How many use DPP in any event??
Lens serial number may be provided by EXIF (
http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/TagNames/EXIF.html):
0xa435 LensSerialNumber string ExifIFD
Of course I don't demand Canon run such a database. It should be run by Interpol or FBI or something like that (there is a database of stolen art). Of course it won't happen in the very next future, as costs would be bigger than profit, even if it would stop stealing someway. Of ocurse it should cover not only camera.
But, if it was to work, then most popular image manipulation programs (form Adobe, Apple, etc.) should contain in license agreement a statement, that info about used gear may be transmitted to authorities in case of suspicion. When upgrading, installing new version, importing a library etc. software would check serial numbers of images and shooting dates and compare it to central database of stolen gear. (It will not work if a thief sets a date in camera in a past). When found a suspicious photo, IP of suspicious computer would be reported to the country and then nearest police office, etc.
In case of really expensive gear it might work, but will probably not happen - there are more serious problems to be solved.
There are hardware protection programs in mobile phones and computers already working. So the simplest option would be to stop suspicious gear from operating when trying to update firmware (if possible only through EOS Utility, for instance)
