Reuters and Canon announce proof-of-concept pilot program

The media group Thomson Reuters and Canon Inc. have created a proof-of-concept pilot program that can is said to certify digital photos.

Concerns about the reliability of materials have led the media group Thomson Reuters and Canon Inc. to announce a new proof-of-concept pilot program to certify digital photos.

Thomson Reuters and Canon have created an end-to-end method for embedding data into an image at the time of capture that is maintained through the entire editing and publication process, in collaboration with Starling Lab, an academic research lab with locations at Stanford University and the University of Southern California.

Reuters, Canon, and Starling Lab claim that by utilizing cutting-edge cryptographic techniques and decentralized web protocols, the pilot initiative can "ease concerns about content's legitimacy."

The proof-of-concept technique shows how to maintain an image's metadata all the way through the chain. The process for Reuters’ image desk has been successfully integrated with Starling Lab's authentication system.

During the trial program, Reuters’ photojournalist Violeta Santos Moura used a prototype Canon camera to take pictures. The prototype camera digitally identifies each image with a special number and records the time, date, and location of the image's capture.

Similar technology is used in Nikon and Leica cameras' camera-level provenance features. The Content Authenticity Initiative counts the two businesses as participants.

Each image is registered on a public blockchain, and its distinctive characteristics are cryptographically signed to prove their authenticity. The blockchain is updated with each change made by the Reuters image desk. The photo is updated repeatedly until it is distributed, including all of its metadata, change history, and embedded blockchain registration in accordance with the C2PA standard.