C2pa Investigations

Posted3 months agoActive3 months ago

zdw

24 points

6 comments

tbray.orgTechstory

skepticalnegative

Debate

60/100

C2paAI DetectionImage AuthenticationDrm

Key topics

C2pa

AI Detection

Image Authentication

Drm

The story discusses the C2PA initiative to authenticate images, but the discussion revolves around its limitations and potential futility in preventing image manipulation.

Snapshot generated from the HN discussion

Discussion Activity

Moderate engagement

First comment

Peak period

96-108h

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Key moments

01Story posted
Sep 25, 2025 at 7:12 PM EDT
3 months ago
Step 01
02First comment
Sep 29, 2025 at 9:12 PM EDT
4d after posting
Step 02
03Peak activity
6 comments in 96-108h
Hottest window of the conversation
Step 03
04Latest activity
Sep 30, 2025 at 3:20 AM EDT
3 months ago
Step 04

Generating AI Summary...

Analyzing up to 500 comments to identify key contributors and discussion patterns

Discussion (6 comments)

Showing 6 comments

mzajc

3 months ago

3 replies

Besides the possibility of extracting the private key from the camera, doesn't this still leave the analog hole wide open? One could set up a high-DPI screen or similar in front of the lens, displaying anything they want, and have it captured with a genuine signature. This effort seems much more noble than DRM schemes, but ultimately it's the same fight against reality.

duskwuff

3 months ago

It's worse than you think: there are official C2PA mobile apps which will apply C2PA tags to anything captured by a "camera".

This includes external USB cameras, such as HDMI capture cards.

You can probably see where this is going.

qingcharles

3 months ago

I didn't read your comment first, but you are absolutely correct.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45421293

There are other uses for C2PA, but detecting AI is a weak one.

burnto

3 months ago

Good comparison with DRM. Perhaps it’s fairer to frame C2PA as an authenticity factor alongside other factors like a creator identity or publication credibility?

qingcharles

3 months ago

1 reply

You can just generate an AI photo, print it and hold it up in front of a camera and now it's "not" AI any longer and it's a real photo taken with a real camera. I don't put any value in C2PA for AI detection.

duskwuff

3 months ago

And vice versa: you can take a real photo, have an AI model make a minor change to it, and you can now claim that it's "a fake AI image".

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ID: 45380510Type: storyLast synced: 11/20/2025, 5:33:13 PM

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