Using the blockchain to safeguard images

Due to the rapid increase in misinformation, users of many platforms have been beginning to doubt the ability of major tech companies to prevent the spread of ‘fake news’. In response to these mounting concerns about the integrity and veracity of content that is distributed online, Numbers Protocol, a Taiwan-based startup is now making its protective blockchain technology more widely available.

Inspired by the mission and achievements of the Starling Framework for Data Integrity, which was launched to create “birth certificates” for photos and videos, Number Protocol’s new blockchain camera application, Capture App, has been designed to similarly protect original content.

When users take images using the Capture App, their photos will have their metadata certified and sealed on the blockchain. Then, any subsequent changes that get made to the photo, including those created using editing software, can be traced and documented.

These tracking and tracing features may be particularly useful in the fields of journalism and content production, to prove the authenticity and the ownership of photographs, respectively.

There are also plans to add a video function to the app, as well as to create a channel or platform where users can publish and post certified content in the hopes that these changes might improve the reliability and authenticity of online content.

The Capture App is available for download in the Apple App Store and on Google Play. available to download for free on the iOS App Store and Google Play).

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