My question is: A digital image can it have some type of water mark showing that it has not been change. I don't think a digital image will stand up in a court of law. If you have a slide you have the real picture. What do you think M. Blackmer

-- M.Blackmer (LOLT@Charleton.net), January 30, 2000

Answers

We use digital and film cameras in an institutional environment. For evidence purposes we use cameras with film. There is an original to compare the image from. We do use digitally printed images from the negative, however in Canada, digital images will not stand up in court, as there is no way to determine if they have been altered, it is much harder to alter a negative or transparency

-- jonathan ratzlaff (jonathanr@clrtech.bc.ca), January 30, 2000.

A digital image can have a "watermark", but this is only used for copyright protection purposes, it is no guarantee of authenticity. Even then, watermarking is not 100% foolproof.

IMHO it will be a cold day in hell before digital images have any legal, or evidential standing.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), January 31, 2000.