A Brief History of Authenticity Infrastructures, 1994 to 2024

Abstract

Provenance verification of visual media is part of the current combat against mis- and disinformation. Specialists of provenance and forensic tacit knowledge work in the media industry, for example, as journalists and fact-checkers, as well as in nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), such as human and environmental rights advocates. Whereas the handcraft of verification has always been integral to such kind of investigations, the era of networked images and the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) demands technological support to prove provenances. This article offers a brief history of authenticity infrastructures, that is, the current development of digital signatures to record and track, for example, edits and crops of digital images from their creation through publication and dissemination. Conversely, visual verification badges, such as content credential icons, provide information about layers of provenances but do not authenticate the content of the respective images. This article focuses on key developments in theory and practice from 1994 until 2024, that is, the transition from authentication strategies in documentary films to authenticity infrastructures as digitally built-in assets, from camera software to AI-induced, photorealistic fictionalizations.