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Spymarks, not Watermarks

698 points · 171 comments · possibilistic

  1. pavo-etc · · focus · HN ↗
    I'm not convinced spymark is better than just "invisible watermarks", spymark to my ears sounds designed to be sound very negative when invisible watermarks are not always negative, e.g. the counterfeit bank note example.

    Tech like SynthID I see a net positive especially since it doesn't degrade text quality. I dream about a browser extension running at all times that makes text more translucent based on the confidence of LLM writing[0].

    This article's suggestion of using it to unmask whistleblowers is very interesting and not something I'd thought about though. Still not convinced that spymark is a better name though.

    [0]: Sean Goedecke&#x27;s Deckard is close but it would rather invisible than bright red <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.seangoedecke.com&#x2F;deckard&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.seangoedecke.com&#x2F;deckard&#x2F;

    1. shevy-java · · focus · HN ↗
      I think they are always negative. Including on bank notes.

      I wonder if we could have a real, open and direct democracy. All the models we have right now work via indirect clowns. Then again, looking at how some people vote, perhaps direct democracy can only work if people are clever.

      1. mvlipwig · · focus · HN ↗
        If checking for counterfeit bills becomes harder, trust in the currency is degraded. Once that happens, vendors will either incentive digital payments (which are definitionally tracked), switch to a tracked currency, or barter more. Trust in bills is super easy to take for granted.
        1. j16sdiz · · focus · HN ↗
          Your use case asks for a visible watermark, not an invisible one.
          1. mvlipwig · · focus · HN ↗
            US bills use both, and the invisible watermarks have proven their value. Imperceptible imperfections intentionally (yay, illiteration) placed on 100 dollar bills have managed to catch advanced North Korean forgery attempts. Same goes for magnetic inks and all kinds of visible and invisible watermarks on US currency.
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