Proof of video authenticity. Review of 3 technologies-guarantors

The more powerfully the digital market develops, the more chances that CCTV footage is being faked. How do you know if a video is real? Let’s conduct our investigation.

What does the court require?

There is an article in our blog on the topic “Can a video record be evidence in court?” In this article, we describe in detail the provision of the law and recommendations for collecting evidence.

It should be noted that not in all cases the Russian court is ready to accept video footage from surveillance cameras as evidence. Why is that?

The procedural rules of law oblige representatives of the law to evaluate the video from three points of view:

1. Is the video record relevant? Is there a relationship between the videos presented and the facts?
2. Is it admissible as evidence? During the trial, the principle of admissibility is used, which means that it is lawful to obtain information from a reliable source.
3. Is the recording 100% reliable? If the information on the video is not valid, then it will not be accepted as evidence.

At the same time, the other side of the meeting has the right to doubt the authenticity of the materials and submit a corresponding petition. In this case, an examination of the authenticity of the video is required.

You will also find a lot of helpful information in the publications of our blog:

• “Investigation of events using video surveillance“;
• “Ban on video surveillance. What is it?”
• “Wireless micro CCTV camera for covert video surveillance“.

Reasons for identifying the authenticity

There are four generalized reasons for doubting the authenticity of surveillance footage:

1. Presence of visual signs of interference. For example, the video shows a sharp change in lighting and shadows, moving things from one place to another.
2. The length of the recording does not match the displayed times.
3. Signs of electronic installation. This is overwriting the original video in the desired order. There are two types of such installation: continuation and insertion.
4. Signs of deliberate erasure of individual frames.

New technologies are guarantors

How can you guarantee the authenticity of a video? Today, in the video surveillance market, we can see a boom in developing new technologies, including developments for determining the authenticity of video materials.

Let’s talk about the technology from the South Korean manufacturer IDIS and two developments of the Moscow company “Nordavind”.

From  IDIS

At the end of April 2021, information appeared in the media about the appearance of the patented Chained Fingerprint technology, which guarantees the authenticity of video materials.

IMPORTANT: it is necessary to use video recorders of the IDIS company, in which the new development is integrated. The identifier information is stored in the IP registrar itself.

Briefly about the mechanism of work:

1. Each frame is automatically assigned a unique high-security number.
2. Also, each frame is marked with a code that contains the unique numbers of neighboring frames.
3. A sequential chain of information is created.
4. Before playing back the video of the archive recording, the recorder verifies the codes and tags.
5. If changes are noticed, a flag icon appears on the distorted frame. This way, you can tell that this is a fake video. And at the same time, the integrity of the video can be guaranteed if the flags are missing.

From Nordavind

The technology of a domestic manufacturer called Prover based on two blockchain platforms (Emercoin, Ethereum) guarantees the authenticity of video recording for mobile devices, namely:

• recording time;
• the place where the video was recorded;
• the camera of a specific device.

Two verification methods:

1. Through a unique swype code.

Here you need to perform actions to generate the code:

• Download the mobile application.
• Turn on the camera.
• Perform manipulations (the coordinate grid of 9 points must be moved in space).

Upon completion of shooting, the video will receive a unique hash that will be sent to the application.

This know-how can be used in a mobile video surveillance service via two phones from Faceter.

Read about how to turn two old phones into a full-fledged surveillance system in this article.

       2. Through a set of sensors located inside the camera (GPS, gyroscope, accelerometer, magnetometer, etc.).

In this case, the mathematical program automatically generates the trajectory of the phone and video camera and compares it with the video content.

Nordavind also announced the creation of the Prover Clapperboard technology, which guarantees the reliability of video recordings from any digital external video cameras, and even those that do not have an Internet connection. The project is under development.

Conclusion

Can a Russian court accept videos with guaranteed authenticity of the companies above? Not at the moment. Let’s hope that the legal community will recognize further progress. In addition, these technologies can be helpful in OSAGO, remote control over the provision of medical services, the educational process, and other areas.