Digital audit trail for photojs?

Jeff Jarvis blogs about a fascinating bit of technology that’s also a bit creepy. Reuters head Tom Glocer said to an audience in Israel:

I am pleased to announce today that we are working with Adobe and Canon to create a solution that enables photo editors to view an audit trail of changes to a digital image, which is permanently embedded in the photograph, ensuring the accuracy of the image. . . .

It is important to say that we sought this technical solution, not because we don’t trust our photographers – far from it. I am incredibly proud of the amazing and dangerous work our photographers and journalists do. They all too often risk their lives to get the photograph that tells the true story of a conflict or captures the horror of war. The threat of injury or death is a daily hazard for many.

No, we sought a technical solution so that we had total and full transparency of our work. It’s what we stand for. It’s what we’ve always stood for. And we hope that it will provide reassurance to editors and consumers of our services.

A digital audit trail makes a lot of sense as to ensuring that a photo is authentic and unaltered, and I can’t see Adobe and Canon sitting on this type of thing solely for Reuters’ benefit. One wonders how much “alteration” the Reuters editors will be looking for. Will there be a list of acceptable changes that a photographer can make to a photo before it’s considered “manipulated.”

It’s something that is sort of unnerving, to think that an editor can look back and laugh at your clumsy attempts to adjust the contrast of a photo. But as an educator, it would be a nice tool to see how much Photoshop work a student had to put in to make an assigned photo project look decent.

The rest of Glocer’s comments are worth a read, too, as he discusses transparency, trust, and citizen journalism.

Of course, I doubt this new technology will be available in the new Photoshop CS3 Beta.

UPDATE: Dan Gillmor is less than enthused about the technological approach to authenticity.

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