‘Content Credentials’ for Photography ⇥ tbray.org

Leica last week launched the M11-P which, as I am sure you know, is the kind of news I am a total sucker for and it is embarrassing. Aside from the usual stuff you might expect from a “P”-type Leica, there is buried in the camera an implementation of an open image authentication system which sounds interesting but, as it turns out, needs clarifying.

Tim Bray:

I’ve been impressed by the whole C2PA idea ever since I first heard about it, but damn is it hard to explain. Every time I post about it, I get annoying replies like “I don’t want my camera to track me!” and “This is just NFTs again!” and “It’ll be easy to fake by tampering with the camera!” All of which are wrong. I conclude that I’m failing to explain clearly enough.

Whatever, let’s try again.

I found this entire piece illuminating and I suspect you will, too. There is understandable fretting over how much we are able to trust photography in an age of manipulation which is easier and more convincing than ever before. C2PA could, it seems, be a key feature, and I am curious to see if it catches on.