An accurate definition of authenticity regarding digital images

[Jinr0h]

Hi,

 

I am working to determine authenticity in digital images, but I am unsatisfied with the definitions I have been given.

They all leave room for interpretability and that is where I have an issue.

 

Here are the definitions I have been given to work with:

 

1. “The application of image science and domain expertise to discern if a questioned image or video is an accurate representation of the original data by some defined criteria. These criteria usually involve the interpretability of the data, and not simple format changes that do not alter the meaning or content of the data.” (SWGIT) www.swgit.org

 

2. “An image made simultaneously with the visual events it purports to have recorded, and in a manner fully and completely consistent with the method of recording claimed by the party who produced the image; an image free from unexplained artifacts, alterations, additions, deletions, or edits”. (Adapted from AES) www.aes.org

 

Do you agree with these definitions? My issues edited red, I have a problem with the subjectivity of these definitions, I have a problem with the word of an expert being a key aspect in a definition (an example: truth is only truth when truth expert Jinr0h deems it so). 

 

If evidence authenticity is based on expert opinion than that cannot be proven to be authentic, over time we have had quite a few experts being convicted of lying. 

 

Also, we have examples like the following;

An image was taken via smartphone then uploaded into social media, the original image was not saved locally and the image uploaded to social media has had metadata edited and the image has been compressed losing data in the process.

Is that image on social media authentic? It could be, and the fact that there is a possibility for opinion, to me, points to either an incomplete understanding in of the technology or a failure of the definition. 

 

I have added the definitions for evidence given to me below:

 

 

Physical (Classical) Evidence: Physical objects that establish that a crime has been committed, can provide a link between a crime and its victim, perpetrator (Saferstein, 2004)

 

Digital Evidence: Digital data that establish that a crime has been committed, can provide a link between a crime and its victim, or can provide a link between a crime and the perpetrator (Carrier & Spafford, 2003)