Digital Authentication and Copyright Protection

lightdrunk

I heard a rumor that the new Leica M11 has software that automatically protects your original work. I'm not sure how this works, but it would seen to be better than inscribing one's name on a photo (which prevents complete viewing of the shot).

Richard

Well, sort of. Digital watermarking is not new but this scheme, like the earlier ones relies on cooperation by all parties, which is an unrealistic bar to meet. In the best of cases, it will make illicit sale of one of your pics less likely. In the average case, it will give you compelling evidence that you can use in court when suing for infringement, assuming you have the time and money to do that. In the worst case, it will take a couple of weeks for skilled hackers to defeat the protection mechanism altogether. You can read more about it here: https://www.cined.com/the-first-camera-to-embed-content-authenticity-initiatives-digital-watermark-leica-m11-p/

I think this is a useless effort to fight the previous war. The threat to photographers is no longer that anyone can perfectly copy their images. It is that generative artificial intelligence can create images without cameras or photographers. All the old discussions about what was acceptable editing are moot. It remains to be seen how courts deal with clear cases of AI infringing on copyrighted photos. I'd love to be on that jury.

lightdrunk

Thanks, Richard. We live in the age of piracy.