Proving a photo has been faked is one thing. Proving it hasn’t is quite another
But, for the reporting of war crimes, it matters
Jan 9th 2023
证明照片是伪造的是一回事。 证明它没有完全是另一回事
但是，对于报告战争罪来说，这很重要
THAT TRUTH is the first casualty of war is an old aphorism. One recent instance is the proliferation of images and videos of things that did not happen, in wars such as those currently going on in Ukraine and Syria. Some of these are outright fakes. Others are manipulated versions of honestly recorded material. Last year a doctored video appeared of Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, apparently telling Ukrainian soldiers to surrender.
aphorism
n. 格言，警句
proliferation
n. 增生, 〈正式〉(数量)激增, 扩散
outright
adj. 完全的, 彻底的, 绝对的, 公开的
adv. 公开地, 直率地, 毫无保留地, 完全彻底
真理是战争的第一个伤亡者是一句古老的格言。 最近的一个例子是未发生的事情的图像和视频的扩散，比如目前在乌克兰和叙利亚发生的战争。 其中一些是彻头彻尾的假货。 其他的是对真实记录材料的操纵版本。 去年，乌克兰总统沃洛德米尔·泽伦斯基 (Volodymyr Zelensky) 出现了一段经过篡改的视频，显然是在告诉乌克兰士兵投降。
The proliferation of such fakes has, though, led to a second, more subtle approach to lying with images. This is to use their ubiquity to cast doubt on the veracity of inconvenient pictures that are real.
ubiquity
n. 遍在(性)
veracity
n. 真实性, 诚实
然而，此类假货的泛滥导致了第二种更微妙的利用图像撒谎的方法。 这是为了利用它们的普遍性来怀疑真实的不便图片的真实性。
Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine last year, for example, the Associated Press released a video of doctors failing to revive a young girl who had been hit in the shelling of Mariupol. The footage soon appeared on Russian television with the word “fake” stamped on it. Since it is hard to prove a negative (ie, that material has not been doctored), such evidence may thus be challenged, possibly even in court, and allegations of crimes based on that evidence may, as a result, not stick.
Associated
adj. 有关联的, 相关的, 有联系的, （用于联合企业的名称）联合的
v. “associate”的过去式和过去分词
revive
v. （使）苏醒，复活；重新使用；重新上演
footage
n. （影片中的）连续镜头;以尺计算长度, 尺数
allegation
n. 断言, 宣称; 主张; 辩解; 指控
stick
v. 刺, 戳; 插入, 刺入; 粘贴; 钉住
n. 枝条, 枯枝; 棍, 棒; 手杖; 条状物; 棍状物
例如，去年俄罗斯入侵乌克兰后不久，美联社发布了一段视频，视频显示医生未能使一名在马里乌波尔炮击中被击中的年轻女孩复活。 这段视频很快出现在俄罗斯电视台上，上面印有“假”字样。 由于很难证明是否定的（即材料未被篡改），因此此类证据可能会受到质疑，甚至可能在法庭上受到质疑，因此基于该证据的犯罪指控可能不会站得住脚。
Ways to establish the authenticity of digital imagery would therefore be valuable. And one is now available. “Glass-to-glass” warning systems create special software “ecosystems” within which pictures and video can be taken, stored and transmitted in a way that alerts viewers to alterations, no matter when and where those changes are introduced in an image’s journey from lens to screen.
authenticity
n. 真实性, 确实性
transmit
v. 传输，传送；传达，传输（思想、感情）；传导（声、电等）；发送信号
alteration
n. 改变，变更
因此，确定数字图像真实性的方法是很有价值的。现在已经有一个了。“玻璃对玻璃”预警系统创建了特殊的软件“生态系统”，在该系统中，可以拍摄、存储和传输图片和视频，无论这些变化是在何时何地在图像从镜头到屏幕的过程中发生的，都可以向观看者发出警告。
A plate of hash
One such system has been developed by eyeWitness to Atrocities, a charity based in London. The app at its core does two things. First, when a photo or video is taken by a phone fitted with that app, it records the time and location of the event, as reported by hard-to-deny electronic witnesses such as GPS satellites and nearby mobile-phone towers and Wi-Fi networks. This is known as the controlled capture of metadata, and is more secure than collecting such metadata from the phone itself, because a phone’s time and location settings can be changed.
hash
v. 切细, 弄糟, 反复推敲
n. （回锅）肉丁土豆, （尤指电话上的）井号（#）
Atrocity
n. （尤指战争中的）残暴行为
charity
n. 慈善机构；仁慈，宽厚
metadata
n. 元数据
一盘哈希饼
总部位于伦敦的慈善机构“暴行目击者”(eyeWitness to Atrocities)开发了一种这样的系统。这款应用的核心功能是两件事。首先，当装有该应用程序的手机拍摄照片或视频时，它会记录下事件发生的时间和地点，就像GPS卫星、附近的移动电话塔和Wi-Fi网络等难以否认的电子目击者所报告的那样。这就是所谓的元数据可控捕获，比从手机本身收集元数据更安全，因为手机的时间和位置设置是可以更改的。
Second, the app reads the image’s entire digital sequence (the zeros and ones which represent it) and uses a standard mathematical formula to calculate an alphanumeric value, known as a hash, unique to that picture. All this done, it then puts the metadata and the hash into a file called a proof bundle that is separate from the image and sends an encrypted copy of the image and its proof bundle to a special server.
alphanumeric
adj. 含有字母和数字的, 字母与数字并用的
bundle
n. 捆，束
v. 捆,匆匆送走,附赠
其次，该应用程序读取图像的整个数字序列(表示图像的0和1)，并使用标准数学公式计算出图像独有的字母数字值，即哈希值。完成所有这些后，它将元数据和散列放入一个称为证明包的文件中，该文件与图像分离，并将图像及其证明包的加密副本发送到一个特殊的服务器。
Wendy Betts, director of eyeWitness to Atrocities, describes this server as a digital evidence locker. If an image’s authenticity needs to be verified, it suffices to rescan its digital sequence, recalculate its hash, and then ask the repository whether or not it contains an identical hash. If even a single pixel of the image has been altered, the recalculated hash will not match the original. If it does match, then the image has not been retouched.
rescan
v. 重新扫描
“暴行目击者”的负责人温迪·贝茨(Wendy Betts)将这个服务器描述为一个数字证据库。如果需要验证图像的真实性，只需重新扫描其数字序列，重新计算其哈希，然后询问存储库是否包含相同的哈希。即使图像的单个像素被改变，重新计算的哈希也将与原始图像不匹配。如果匹配，则图像未被修饰。
As an additional service, roughly 80 lawyers, each working for the charity without pay for a few hours a week, review the incoming images. They package those which seem to record abuses into dossiers that are then sent to prosecuting authorities including Europol (a law-enforcement agency of the European Union), the International Criminal Court and Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor-General.
abuse
n. 虐待；滥用； 辱骂，谩骂； 侮辱； 恶习，陋习
vt. 虐待；滥用，妄用；辱骂，谩骂；伤害；摧残
dossier
n. 档案, 材料汇编, 卷宗
prosecute
v. 起诉, 控告, 检举, 担任控方律师
作为一项额外的服务，大约80名律师每周无偿为该慈善机构工作几个小时，检查传入的图像。他们将那些似乎记录了虐待行为的文件打包成卷宗，然后送到包括欧洲刑警组织(欧盟的执法机构)、国际刑事法院和乌克兰总检察长办公室在内的检察机关。
Andriy Kostin, the prosecutor-general himself, is a fan of the eyeWitness system—and not just because it provides the security of authenticity that courts require. He also likes the fact that it helps overcome a second obstacle to his efforts: witnesses’ fear of being found out.
prosecutor
n. 检察官, 公诉人, 原告律师, 控方律师
obstacle
n. 障碍，绊脚石
总检察长Andriy Kostin本人就是目击者系统的拥趸，这不仅仅是因为它提供了法庭所要求的真实性保障。他还喜欢这样一个事实:这有助于克服他努力的第二个障碍:证人害怕被发现。
Making connections
In areas of Ukraine that are occupied by Russia, this is a serious risk. Were soldiers manning a checkpoint, for example, to discover on someone’s phone video evidence collected by that person of war crimes, the consequences could be severe. To make this less likely to happen, the app’s icon does not reveal its purpose. Moreover, if it is then tapped by a probing official and an incorrect passcode entered, that opens the phone’s normal photo gallery. Maryna Slobodianiuk, lead investigator at Truth Hounds, a human-rights group in Kyiv, says of the evidence of attacks she has collected using eyeWitness: “Even if I will be captured…no one will reach it.”
manning
n. 男人, 人类, 男子汉, 伙计
v. 在…岗位上工作, 操纵（机器等）, 配备（人员）
int. （表示惊奇、气愤等）嘿
checkpoint
n. （边防）检查站, 边防关卡
gallery
n. 画廊, 美术馆, 走廊, 楼座
建立联系
在乌克兰被俄罗斯占领的地区，这是一个严重的风险。例如，如果驻守检查站的士兵在某人的手机上发现那个人收集的战争罪行的视频证据，后果可能是严重的。为了降低这种情况发生的可能性，应用程序的图标没有显示它的用途。此外，如果随后被负责调查的官员窃听，并输入了错误的密码，就会打开手机的正常相册。基辅人权组织“真相猎犬”(Truth Hounds)的首席调查员Maryna Slobodianiuk谈到她通过目击者收集到的袭击证据时说:“即使我被抓住了……也没人能拿到。”
The first version of eyeWitness’s system, available gratis, was released in 2015, so most of the bugs have been dealt with. Uptake in Ukraine has soared over the past year. Ms Betts says that of the 40,000 submissions received in 2022 which her team considers relevant for investigations, more than 27,000 were sent from Ukraine.
gratis
adj. 免费的
adv. 免费地, 无偿地
Uptake
n. 吸收, （对现有东西的）使用, 吸收速度
soar
v. 翱翔, 高飞, 猛增, 高耸
n. 翱翔, 上升高度, 高飞范围
submission
n. 提交, 屈服, 投降, 意见
目击者系统的第一个版本是在2015年发布的，是免费的，所以大多数bug都已经解决了。在过去的一年中，乌克兰的吸收率飙升。贝茨女士表示，在2022年收到的4万份她的团队认为与调查相关的材料中，有2.7万多份来自乌克兰。
Police officers and journalists are particularly eager users. So are analysts at the Ukrainian Healthcare Centre, a think-tank in Kyiv that employs the app to gather evidence of attacks on medical facilities.
警察和记者尤其热衷于使用。基辅的一家智库乌克兰医疗中心(Ukrainian Healthcare Centre)的分析师也是如此，他们使用这款应用程序来收集医疗设施遭到袭击的证据。
Nor is eyeWitness the only provider of glass-to-glass services. The Guardian Project, in Valhalla, New York, has released a smartphone app called ProofMode. Like eyeWitness, ProofMode combines controlled-capture metadata and the image’s hash into a proof bundle. Instead of operating the receiving server itself, though, ProofMode uses repositories run by other firms, such as Google, which log them in the fashion of a notary. Viewers of an image taken with ProofMode can upload it to a Guardian Project website that recalculates its hash and checks the repositories for a match. If it fails to find one, the image is declared altered.
repository
n. 仓库, 贮藏室, 存放处, 学识渊博的人
notary
n. 公证人，公证员
目击者也不是唯一一家提供玻璃对玻璃服务的公司。位于纽约瓦尔哈拉的Guardian Project发布了一款名为ProofMode的智能手机应用程序。与目击者一样，ProofMode将受控捕获元数据和图像哈希组合到一个证明包中。不过，与操作接收服务器本身不同，ProofMode使用由其他公司(如谷歌)运行的存储库，这些存储库以公证的方式记录它们。使用ProofMode拍摄的图像的观看者可以将其上传到Guardian Project网站，该网站会重新计算其哈希值，并检查存储库是否匹配。如果找不到，则声明图像已更改。
Soon, the Guardian Project will add a new feature, Synchrony. This will link an image’s location and time-of-capture to OpenStreetMap, an online cartography of the world, and also to a detailed geographical record of the world’s weather over the past few years (which one, has yet to be decided). That will make it easy to check for inconsistencies between the place and time someone claims a picture was taken, and the local landscape and the weather conditions on that day. The idea, says Nathan Freitas, the Guardian Project’s founder, is to “sync images to the real world as it was”. He hopes to link to other databases, as well—including those that record when and where street protests have happened.
Synchrony
n. 【物】同步, 同步性
cartography
n. 制图学, 地图绘制
inconsistency
n. “inconsistence”的变体，不一致，不调和，矛盾
很快，守护者计划将添加一个新功能，同步。这将把图像的位置和拍摄时间与OpenStreetMap(一种世界在线地图)，以及过去几年世界天气的详细地理记录(具体是哪一种，还有待决定)联系起来。这样就可以很容易地检查某人声称拍摄照片的地点和时间，以及当天当地的景观和天气状况之间的不一致。卫报项目的创始人内森·弗雷塔斯(Nathan Freitas)说，这个想法是“将图像与现实世界同步”。他希望也能连接到其他数据库，包括那些记录街头抗议发生时间和地点的数据库。
A third operator, Truepic, of La Jolla, California, is taking a more commercial approach. Charities pay nothing to use its software, but companies that employ it to keep an eye on things like supply chains, progress at construction sites, compliance with loan terms, and the whereabouts and condition of expensive kit, must stump up.
charity
n. 慈善机构；仁慈，宽厚
kit
n. 配套元件，成套工具，成套设备
stump
n. （树被砍倒后留下的）树桩，树墩；残肢；残余部分；残段；残根
v. 把（某人）难住，难倒；迈着沉重的步子走；跺着脚走；（在…）作巡回政治演说
第三家运营商，位于加州拉霍亚的Truepic正在采取更加商业化的方式。慈善机构无需支付任何费用就可以使用它的软件，但使用它来监视供应链、建筑工地进度、贷款条款的遵守情况以及昂贵工具的下落和状况等事务的公司必须支付费用。
Truepic provides two services. One scans smartphones for malware designed to facilitate the falsification of metadata. The other spots so-called rebroadcasting attacks, in which a doctored image is photographed to create a new picture, which thereby lacks traces of tampering in its code. Mounir Ibrahim, once a member of America’s diplomatic corps (he served, inter alia, in Damascus, a hotbed of photographic deception), and now head of public affairs at Truepic, is cagey about how this is done. But the trick, he notes, is to look for clues that all of an image’s pixels have recorded a uniformly flat surface.
malware
n. 恶意软件（指电脑病毒等）
facilitate
v. 促进；助长；使便利，使容易；帮助
falsification
n. 弄虚作假, 伪造, 窜改, 歪曲
rebroadcast
v. 【无线】再播送, 转播
diplomatic
adj. 外交的；老练的，圆通的，委婉的
corps
n. 兵团, （陆军）特种部队, （从事某工作或活动的）一群人
deception
n. 欺骗, 骗局, 骗术, 诡计
cagey
adj. 守口如瓶的, 讳莫如深的
Truepic提供两种服务。一种是扫描智能手机，寻找旨在伪造元数据的恶意软件。另一种是所谓的重播攻击，即拍摄经过篡改的图像以创建新图像，因此其代码中没有篡改的痕迹。穆尼尔•易卜拉欣曾是美国外交使团的一员(他曾在大马士革工作，那里是照片欺骗的温床)，现在是Truepic的公共事务主管，他对这是如何做到的讳莫如深。但他指出，诀窍在于寻找图像的所有像素都记录了一个均匀的平面的线索。
In 2021 Truepic joined forces with Adobe, ARM, the BBC, Intel and Microsoft to form the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA). This is trying to create a set of image-authentication technological standards for makers of hardware and software. The aim is to eliminate the need to fuss with special apps. Instead, the coalition wants metadata capture, hashing and the transmission of data to repositories to take place behind the scenes and without royalties.
Coalition
n. 联盟, 联合, 结合, （两党或多党）联合政府
fuss
n. （为小事）大惊小怪，小题大做；瞎忙；（具体的）反对，抗议，纷争；繁琐的手续；麻烦，困难
v. 过分关心（枝节小事）；（为小事）烦恼；打扰，烦扰
royalty
n. 王室成员；版税
2021年，Truepic与Adobe、ARM、BBC、英特尔和微软联合成立了内容出处和真实性联盟(C2PA)。这是试图为硬件和软件制造商创建一套图像认证技术标准。其目的是消除对特殊应用程序的麻烦。相反，该联盟希望元数据的捕获、散列和数据到存储库的传输在幕后进行，并且不需要版税。
If C2PA’s standards were widely adopted, even web browsers would be able to check an online repository of hashes and put a warning on images with no match. Eventually, hashes might be distributed automatically across blockchain ledgers. The Starling Lab, based at Stanford University, is running trials of such a system.
blockchain
n. 区块链
ledger
n. 收支总账, 分类账簿, 分户账簿
如果C2PA的标准被广泛采用，即使是网络浏览器也能检查在线哈希库，并对不匹配的图像发出警告。最终，哈希值可能会自动分布到区块链分类账上。位于斯坦福大学的斯特林实验室正在对这种系统进行试验。
Hurdles, however, remain. Jonathan Dotan, the Starling Lab’s founding director, points to one in particular. The technology could potentially allow authoritarian regimes to identify devices, and thus people, who have taken damning pictures. Researchers, he says, must first find a way to make such tracing impossible. Transparency is all very well, but even the good guys recognise that, sometimes, too much of it can be too much of a good thing. ■
Hurdle
n. 跨栏, 障碍, 难关, 跨栏赛
v. （奔跑中）跳越（某物）, 参加跨栏赛
particular
adj. 专指的，特定的；独特的，特别的；讲究的，挑剔的
n. 详细资料；细节，详情
damn
adv. （表示厌烦）该死, 极
adj. 该死的, 完全的
v. （表示愤怒）该死, 令（某人）下地狱, 强烈指责, 谴责
n. 诅咒, 些微
int. 他妈的
Transparency
n. 透明（度）, 透明（性）；幻灯片, 透明正片；清晰，易懂；一目了然, 显而易见
然而，障碍依然存在。星城实验室的创始主任乔纳森·多坦(Jonathan Dotan)特别指出了一个例子。这项技术可能会让专制政权识别出那些拍摄了该死照片的设备，从而识别出那些人。他说，研究人员必须首先找到一种方法，使这种追踪不可能。透明度固然很好，但即使是好人也认识到，有时，透明度过高可能会让好事变得过份。■
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