In a year that AI will make it almost impossible to know the truth and convincing deepfakes will saturate the internet, authenticity has never been more important. Nodle’s mission is to combat misinformation and create a ‘digital trust network’ where users of its Click camera app can easily authenticate photo and video content.
When you take a photo using the app, a Content Credentials verified digital signature can be attached to the image using Nodle's blockchain, proving where, when and what camera it was taken with, among other key details that prove it’s real.
Nodle isn’t the first on the scene. Leica launched the world’s first anti-AI camera last year while it’s reported that Sony, Canon and Nikon will also introduce digital signature authentication tech in future cameras. However, the early word is that the Content Credentials approved tech will only be found in professional cameras typically in the hands of paid journalists, and that leaves a big hole.
In a Nodle keynote, co-founders Jeff Roberto and Micha Benoliel noted that 3.2 billion images and 720,000 hours of video are shared online every day, the majority of which are taken with smartphones, so it’s clear that the anti-AI moves from the big imaging brands only go so far. That’s what is potentially so exciting about Click’s ContentSign technology – it makes authentication easy and accessible.
The Click camera app was launched for iOS in December, and the Android version is set to follow later this month. Currently it can authenticate photos only, with video coming soon.
Authentication on a potentially astronomical scale
Nodle’s authenticity tech works through its Click camera app for live images. Once you’ve captured an image, you swipe to authenticate it with ContentSign and publish it on the Nodle blockchain.
The digital signature is auto-Content Provenance and Authenticity (CP2A) certified. That’s official approval from the industry standard coalition co-founded by Adobe that introduced Content Credentials and includes many of the leading media voices, including big camera brands.
In addition to the digital signature, metadata including time, date, location, camera and settings can be seen, plus you can publicly share your image through the app to any platform that allows linking, including social. You don’t need to have the app to view certified images taken and shared using the Click app.
In the Nodle keynote (at 20:50), co-founder Micha Benoliel says that even CP2A verified media from the Leica M11-P and potential future camera from the likes Sony and Canon can be added to its blockchain and be part of its digital trust network.
The fight against misinformation is warming up
When I wrote about Sony, Canon, Nikon joining Leica in the fight against misinformation, I was acutely aware that this was just the beginning in what will be an ongoing effort against AI-generated deepfakes. The free to download Click camera app should reassure humans that the fight for authenticity is far from over.
As an iOS and soon to be Android app, Click’s userbase is potentially much wider than those shooting with the pro-level cameras featuring digital signature tech. However, you still have to use the proprietary Click app to get that CP2A verified signature and publish to Nodle’s blockchain (we don’t know the potential cost to the user for that, yet), plus you need approval to join Nodle's digital trust network, and those factors could make it a non-starter for many.
The Click camera app is armed with the tools you'd expect from your phone's default camera app, including 4:3 and 16:9 aspect, zoom, plus front and rear facing camera support, with more camera features on the way. What it won't get, by design, is editing tools.
To blow the door well and truly open, digital signature authenticity needs to be built into the default camera apps by Apple, Samsung, Google and the rest, and for those tech giants to also become part of the CP2A coalition – their names are notable omissions. Something tells me this isn’t the last article I’ll write on this topic in 2024.
