Software Detects Altered Digital Images
Defense attorneys are finding it easy to challenge digital camera images that are entered as evidence in the courtroom because these images can easily be manipulated with inexpensive software programs. These software programs alter images so that the changes cannot be detected by the naked eye. Thus, there exists a need for technology that can determine when digital images have been altered.
California-based Kwan Software Engineering says it has come up with just such a solution: The VeriPic Digital Photo Lab application.
The solution works by producing a special photographic parameter, or time stamp, when a picture is first imported from a camera or memory card. If this parameter is changed after the original time-stamped importation, it means that the photo has been altered and the authentication of the picture cannot be verified.
VeriPic maintains on its Web site a list of certified digital cameras with which it works. Users can submit non-certified cameras to VeriPic to be certified by the company’s technicians, a process that takes just a couple of weeks.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Police (12/04) Vol. 28, No. 12, P. 70; Davis, Bob .
