Spymarks just seem like another word for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steganography" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steganography. On that note, one way we can prevent it is to assert that all our content is byte-for-byte identical with the last known trusted stage of what we have produced (for example: a camera we are certain does not watermark, an image editor we are certain doesn't watermark, an image compressor we are certain can't watermark, etc). One vector that I am particularly concerned about is social media. Most images and videos uploaded to most social media is re-compressed by the target platform. This is a door to tracking that is far too easy for social media platforms to open. They might rationalize it (if discovered/announced) by saying that our memes won't be reposted, images or work stolen, etc... but honestly I'd rather my work be stolen than tracking information inserted in there. Oh, we also have stuff which is way more secure, like time-stamped cryptographic signatures.
This is a straightforward example of how the positive or negative valence of a piece of tech depends entirely on how it's used.
You just need to address three questions:
- who controls what information is going in? (that is, what is the process by which the tech companies who control all the tech are using it)
- who controls what information is coming out? (that is, is the steganographic format open enough that anyone can read it, or does it depend on having a key)
- what legal regulation is this subject to? (does sneaking individuals name and address into their photographs incur you massive GDPR liabilities when it is discovered?)
Note that there's a widespread precedent: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printer_tracking_dots" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printer_tracking_dots
Retro_Dev · · focus · HN ↗
pjc50 · · focus · HN ↗
You just need to address three questions:
- who controls what information is going in? (that is, what is the process by which the tech companies who control all the tech are using it)
- who controls what information is coming out? (that is, is the steganographic format open enough that anyone can read it, or does it depend on having a key)
- what legal regulation is this subject to? (does sneaking individuals name and address into their photographs incur you massive GDPR liabilities when it is discovered?)
Note that there's a widespread precedent: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printer_tracking_dots" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printer_tracking_dots