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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. dgoldstein0 · · focus · HN ↗
        Eh bank notes have watermarks just to make them harder to forge. They also have serial numbers, but as almost no businesses pay attention to them they aren&#x27;t really used to track transactions. The provenance of a particular bank note isn&#x27;t that interesting beyond knowing whether it&#x27;s a forgery.

        The problem with these spymarks is that they can be used to include data that&#x27;s completely invisible to users - even potentially to sophisticated users and the programs that consume the marked files. So while I can make an informed decision whether to share a picture, I may not be informed about any spymarks. Vs a normal watermark that aren&#x27;t designed to be invisible.

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