This Startup Can Tell You if a Photo Is Fake
In the age of Photoshop, it’s almost impossible to say with absolute certainty whether any given image is real, but one former Photoshop employee hopes to change that.
Fourandsix Technologies, a startup founded by a former Adobe Photoshop executive and a digital forensics expert, unveiled its first piece of software this week, which promises to help law enforcement determine whether a photo is authentic or not.
このPhotoshopの時代に、その画像が本物か絶対的な確信をもって断言することはほぼ不可能であるが、Photoshopの前社員の1人はそれを変えたいと思っている。
Adobe Photoshopの前幹部と電子情報科学捜査の専門家によって創設された新規事業Fourandsix Technologiesは、今週、そのソフトウェアの第一片を披露した。それは写真が本物かどうか法の執行機関が決定するのに役立つことが期待されている。
現在のようなPhotoshop時代では、写真が本物であるかどうか、100%確実に判別するのは難しい。しかし、かつてPhotoshopの従業員だった人物が、この状況を変えようとしている。
Adobe Photoshopの前エグゼクティブであり、デジタル鑑識の専門家が立ち上げたFourandsix Technoogiesというスタートアップは、今週、法の執行の場で、写真が本物かどうかを見極めることができるソフトウエアの第1弾を公表した。
The software, called FourMatch, analyzes the meta data in picture files to quickly determine if a photo has been modified. FourMatch relies on a comprehensive database of more than 70,000 “signatures” that are left on a file from each piece of hardware and software that goes into creating it. As the company explains in a description of the product, “Once an image has been edited and resaved from a software product, this signature is changed to match the software rather than the original capture device.”
FourMatch is primarily intended for police and lawyers who need to determine whether a photograph has been tampered with in any way between the time it was first captured and submitted as evidence. However, the software won’t tell you exactly how the image has been altered — if it has been at all — because it only analyzes the file data rather than the image itself. For this reason, it can just tell you if a file has been touched by another application.
“This first product we’ve put out is not a magic bullet that will tell you everything you need to know about an image,” Kevin Connor, the company’s president and co-founder who worked at Adobe for 15 years, told Mashable. “This is sort of a first step and there are certain scenarios when it will be very valuable, particularly in the law enforcement space.” Indeed, the software currently retails for $890 so it’s clearly not intended for the average consumer.
In the future, though, the startup plans to release other tools to determine the authenticity of pictures that should have broader use. In particular, Connor sees a growing need for technology that can detect photo fraud in medical research, help media companies assess whether their photographers have been too liberal editing their photos and sift through pictures going viral on social media to figure out whether they’re real. Likewise, he thinks tools like this could help banks verify the authenticity of pictures of checks and other payments taken by customers.
“People are using images more and more to communicate and facilitate transactions,” Connor said. “There will be more situations when you might want to be able to verify that it’s true.”