May 1, 2009

A tool to verify digital video

As a tardy but dedicated reader of the New York Times 'Science Times' section on Tuesdays, this article finally came out of the in-box -- John Markoff's "A Tool to Verify Digital Records, Even as Technology Shifts." Here's an excerpt:

"...a group of researchers at the University of Washington are releasing the initial component of a public system to provide authentication for an archive of video interviews with the prosecutors and other members of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Rwandan genocide.... This system is intended to be available for future use in digitally preserving and authenticating first-hand accounts of war crimes, atrocities and genocide.

Such tools are of vital importance because it has become possible to alter digital text, video and audio in ways that are virtually undetectable to the unaided human eye and ear."

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