PFI-TT: A system to secure and verify location, time, metadata, and authenticity of digital images and videos

创新伙伴关系-技术转化（PFI-TT）项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力在于为涉及具有新闻、法庭和证据价值的数据（图像和视频）的商业交易创造透明度。随着操纵图像和制作虚假视频的技术变得越来越容易，公众对照片和视频作为证据的信任正在受到侵蚀。这个项目通过创建一个过程来证明图像不是假的或被操纵的，从而解决了这个问题。这是通过一个安全的应用程序实现的，该应用程序可用于捕获图像或视频，并立即注册区块链上数据的来源证明（位置、时间和元数据）和取证识别。这个过程可以恢复对任何使用照片或视频作为证据的商业交易的信任。商业价值是公共实体，如执法和服务企业需要存储图像，以证明交付，检查，完成工作等。最后，该技术帮助在线新闻机构实现新闻报道的公众验证，恢复公众对当地数字新闻平台的信任。拟议的项目建立了一个系统，用于在区块链支持的存储系统上存储数据的起源证明，创建一个从数据创建时开始的监管链（例如当使用智能手机或相机录制视频或拍照时）。这一过程旨在区分可核实的媒体和虚假媒体，后者可以打击在线平台上的错误信息。智力上的优点在于开发了一种新的感知哈希算法，该算法在从原始和压缩或增强副本的混合中检测篡改图像时可以达到98%的精度；一种智能合约，支持数据的机密性和完整性，以及存储系统的可审计性和问责性，同时允许删除数据以支持被遗忘权。该技术还开发了一种新的数据库审计流程，以解决公共bb0的开放性与数据生产者隐私权之间的矛盾。该研发项目的目标是构建一个支持媒体注册和验证的端到端平台，以支持各种公共和私有实体的业务逻辑。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is in creating transparency in business transactions that involve data (image and videos) that have news, forensic and evidentiary value. As the technology to manipulate images and create fake videos has become more accessible, the public trust of photos and videos as evidence has been eroding. This project combats this problem by creating a process to prove that images are not fake or manipulated. This is achieved by a secure application that can be used to capture images or videos and instantly register a proof of origin (location, time, and metadata) and forensic identification of the data on the blockchain. This process may restore trust in any business transaction which uses photos or videos as evidence. The commercial value is to both public entities such as in law enforcement and in service businesses required to store images for proof of delivery, inspection, completion of work, etc. Finally, this technology helps online news agencies to enable public verification of news stories, restoring public trust on local digital news platforms. The proposed project builds a system to store proof of origin of data on a blockchain-backed storage system, creating a chain of custody that begins at the time of data creation (such as when a smart phone or camera is used to record a video or take a picture). The process seeks to differentiate between verifiable media and fake media, the latter of which may combat misinformation in online platforms. The intellectual merit is in the development of a novel perceptual hashing algorithm that can achieve 98% precision in detecting tampered images from a mix of original and compressed or enhanced copies; a smart contract that supports confidentiality and integrity of the data and the auditability and accountability of the storage system, while allowing erasure of data to support the Right to be Forgotten. The technology also develops a novel database auditing process to solve the paradox between openness of a public blockchain and data producer’s right to privacy. The goal of this research and development project is to build an end-to-end platform that supports media registration and verification to support the business logic for a variety of public and private entities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.