The Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) addresses the prevalence of misleading information online through the development of technical standards for certifying the source and history or provenance of digital media content. On January 26, the C2PA held a groundbreaking event announcing and previewing the 1.0 version of the end-to-end open technical standard for certifying the source and history of media content. The event – Possibilities & Opportunities for the Future of the Internet in the Deepfake and Disinformation Era – featured policymakers, academics, and industry leaders weighing in on the future of responsible digital media creation, publication, and sharing. Here are highlights:
- Dr. Eric Horvtiz, Chief Scientific Officer at Microsoft, opened the event by noting that restoring trust in digital content is an ambitious goal that will require diverse perspectives and participation. Horvitz emphasized that it is encouraging to see governments, research institutions, and others begin to understand and embrace the provenance approach.
- US Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) and US Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) delivered video messages explaining their work to introduce the bi-partisan Deepfakes Task Force Act to help counter the malicious use of synthetic media with digital content provenance. Both Senators emphasized that synthetic media and the erosion of trust online represent significant national security and economic challenges.
- Dana Rao, General Counsel and EVP, Adobe hosted a fireside chat with White House Senior Policy Advisor for Technology Strategy, Lindsay Gorman. Gorman stressed that disinformation is a national security challenge in addition to a societal one and noted that without technologies that protect and authenticate information, authoritarians can rewrite history and avoid being held accountable.
- Author Nina Schick moderated a panel featuring industry experts including Dr. Matt Turek, Program Manager at DARPA, Dr. Hany Farid, Professor at UC Berkeley, Sam Gregory Program Director at Witness, and Todd O’Boyle, Senior Manager of Public Policy at Twitter. The panel discussed the current challenges to identifying image fraud and deception online and the possibilities, challenges, and utility of digital content provenance.
- The C2PA previewed the first-ever preview of the v.1.0 technical specification with a short video that can be seen here. The preview was followed by a Q/A panel with experts from C2PA member companies – Adobe, BBC, Microsoft, and Truepic.
- The event wrapped up with closing comments from Jamie Angus, Senior Controller of News Output and Commissioning, BBC who emphasized that the solutions the C2PA is working on reinforce the trust that news brands need to have with their audiences and play to the safety of journalists operating in difficult or dangerous environments.
