Cryptographic methods to authenticate photographs coming to the Canon EOS R1?

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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.

GOiBSEGWcAAIKwU.jpg

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.

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.”
 
I had the same thought at first that this was some type of selfie camera lens. : )
But now it makes sense: it could be a built in camera to scan something like a QR code or other unique identifier that a photographer could have on a lanyard, a keychain, a card in his/her pocket, or even a tattoo!
 
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The cryptography part of authenticating this would be creating an ID that would register each unmanipulated photo on the block chain. The data inside the image would be compared against the block chain for authenticity and to see if any of the data has changed (ie photoshop etc) with the original entry.

This little window is most likely a sensor for ambient lighting for auto-dimming displays or illuminated buttons.
 
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The cryptography part of authenticating this would be creating an ID that would register each unmanipulated photo on the block chain. The data inside the image would be compared against the block chain for authenticity and to see if any of the data has changed (ie photoshop etc) with the original entry.

This little window is most likely a sensor for ambient lighting for auto-dimming displays or illuminated buttons.

100% this
 
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The cryptography part of authenticating this would be creating an ID that would register each unmanipulated photo on the block chain. The data inside the image would be compared against the block chain for authenticity and to see if any of the data has changed (ie photoshop etc) with the original entry.

This little window is most likely a sensor for ambient lighting for auto-dimming displays or illuminated buttons.

That's a thought. Though I'm not sure why one would be put where your thumb will constantly be if you're chimping and using the screen?
 
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The cryptography part of authenticating this would be creating an ID that would register each unmanipulated photo on the block chain. The data inside the image would be compared against the block chain for authenticity and to see if any of the data has changed (ie photoshop etc) with the original entry.
When would the block chain be updated? When the raw file is uploaded to LR/ON1 etc or need to be done separately?
What would happen if jpg is used eg for sport where the raw file isn't used?
 
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When would the block chain be updated? When the raw file is uploaded to LR/ON1 etc or need to be done separately?
What would happen if jpg is used eg for sport where the raw file isn't used?
It would require hardware security in the camera, like an encrypted chip or a key generator. When the photo is taken, a token would be embedded in the metadata and the record of the image would be attached to the token. When the image is uploaded, assuming to Canon, it would be authenticated, and the token would become part of the block chain. Any edits made to the photo would be checked against the original data etc. Basically the software to authenticate would allow basic edits like what can be done in Digital Photo Professional. Anything done outside of encrypted software would both unauthenticate the image and it wouldn’t match the original image that was taken
 
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I don't see why in-camera signing of jpegs would require blockchain or any external input that couldn't be done through in-camera menus.
You have not read the article about those methode.

They wrote:
"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."

It's a good simplified exlain what they do and this is for.
 
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You have not read the article about those methode.

They wrote:
"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.
This is enough for the task.

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."
And this seems to be good enough for "I have something done with a blockchain" in the resume.

It's a good simplified exlain what they do and this is for.
Seems so.
 
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This is enough for the task.


And this seems to be good enough for "I have something done with a blockchain" in the resume.


Seems so.
It's good enought to understand what the blockchain is used for. The most people don't understand what a blockchain is and where this is for. I am not interessting in to put a crypto signature of my pictures into a BC to get ensure that this are not manipulated, but i assume that their are a bunch of organisations in the world they want to have such feature.
A simple certificate does not protect the content of the picture, so i assume that they cals a hash value of the entire pixel in the picture and put them into the BC. A picture with 45MP resolution needs a powerfull processing.
They wrote, that a picture modification needs to be an update of the signature. Not very handy task, but somtimes, this could helpful.
Of course - the circumscription offers not much details about the entrire process. Well, are you interessting into it? I guess no, why you care about it???
And, the regular case of every article like an anouncement or ever, is mostly carried by an evangelist of that brand. Here they had involved a press photographer. In Other case you a youtube influencer or so. I am sure that they all not know in detail what they tests. They just press the trigger and talks about them the company who pays, want to hear about. This dont beats me...
 
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It's good enought to understand what the blockchain is used for. The most people don't understand what a blockchain is and where this is for. I am not interessting in to put a crypto signature of my pictures into a BC to get ensure that this are not manipulated, but i assume that their are a bunch of organisations in the world they want to have such feature.
A simple certificate does not protect the content of the picture, so i assume that they cals a hash value of the entire pixel in the picture and put them into the BC. A picture with 45MP resolution needs a powerfull processing.
They wrote, that a picture modification needs to be an update of the signature. Not very handy task, but somtimes, this could helpful.
Of course - the circumscription offers not much details about the entrire process. Well, are you interessting into it? I guess no, why you care about it???
And, the regular case of every article like an anouncement or ever, is mostly carried by an evangelist of that brand. Here they had involved a press photographer. In Other case you a youtube influencer or so. I am sure that they all not know in detail what they tests. They just press the trigger and talks about them the company who pays, want to hear about. This dont beats me...
The obvious use is photojournalism, but I can see it beneficial for almost all sciences, archaeology, and art conservation as well.
 
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A simple certificate does not protect the content of the picture
If it doesn't, then blockchain doesn't do it either. With a strong (cryptographically secure) hashing algorithm, both do it exactly the same.

The only utility a public ledger seems to add to an in-camera signed hash of the image is recording the time when the image was registered in the public ledger (but not when the image was taken - that needs to be done in-camera, using a secure external time source).
 
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