The Coalition for Content Provision and Authentication (C2P) Standard: A Breakthrough in Digital Preservation

In an effort to address concerns about digital preservation, Nathan Freus, director of The Guardian Project at Harvard's Berkman Center, has been instrumental in developing a new standard known as C2P. According to Freus, the acronym stands for Coalition for Content Provision and Authentication, and can be thought of as "like xif with cryptography added on to it." This means that the C2P standard not only incorporates advanced cryptographic techniques but also offers revision control, allowing users to sign and timestamp metadata associated with digital files.

One of the key features of the C2P standard is its ability to provide authentication and version control across various formats. This includes images, videos, audio files, and documents. Users can now sign their digital content using a certificate, which provides an additional layer of security and authenticity. Furthermore, the use of third-party cryptographic timestamp servers ensures that metadata can be timestamped, providing a paper trail for the history of changes made to a digital file.

The benefits of the C2P standard extend beyond individual users, as it has the potential to revolutionize the way we preserve and share digital content. By incorporating advanced cryptographic techniques and revision control, the C2P standard offers a secure and transparent way to manage digital metadata. This is particularly important for human rights activism and journalism, where accuracy and verifiability are paramount.

The development of the C2P standard was inspired by The Guardian Project's own work on digital preservation, which has been ongoing for over 15 years. In fact, the project's open-source app software camera, designed in collaboration with Peter Gabriel's organization Witness, incorporates elements of the C2P standard. This camera allows users to capture and share high-quality images while ensuring that the metadata associated with each image is securely preserved.

The incorporation of advanced cryptographic techniques into the C2P standard has also sparked interest from major technology companies such as Nikon and Sony. These organizations are now exploring ways to integrate the C2P standard into their own products, further expanding its reach and potential impact.

One notable example of this integration is the built-in authentication system found in certain camera models. The author of the transcription notes that they have held one of these cameras and used it to capture images, which were then embedded with additional data using a technique called "exf." This data provides an additional layer of security and authenticity, ensuring that only specific cameras can generate this particular type of metadata.

The development of the C2P standard represents a significant step forward in digital preservation and offers a range of benefits for individuals, organizations, and institutions. By providing advanced cryptographic techniques and revision control, the C2P standard ensures that digital content is accurately preserved and securely shared. As such, it has the potential to revolutionize the way we preserve and share digital information.

The full potential of the C2P standard will likely be realized through its incorporation into a range of different applications and products. As more organizations and individuals begin to adopt this new standard, its benefits will become increasingly apparent. By providing a secure and transparent way to manage digital metadata, the C2P standard has the potential to transform the way we preserve and share digital content.

In conclusion, the Coalition for Content Provision and Authentication (C2P) standard represents a significant breakthrough in digital preservation. Its advanced cryptographic techniques and revision control offer a range of benefits for individuals, organizations, and institutions, and its incorporation into various products and applications is likely to revolutionize the way we preserve and share digital content.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is Twi uh so I got a great email from a guy we've interviewed before doc C has interviewed he's been on triangulation uh because he was very active in the tour project Nathan freus who works at the Harvard's Berkman Center he is the director of something called The Guardian Project and has an open source project called proof mod.org hi Nathan welcome hi Leah thanks for uh yeah responding to my urgent email because I heard that last week some things to say well first of all uh there is this c2p standard MH tell us what that is so the acronym stands for the Coalition for Content Providence and authentication um this um you know it's kind of funny to have a standard that has the word Coalition in it um but c2p can be thought of as almost like xif with cryptography added on to it and so it ads um and not just cryptography but also revision control so you have the ability to sign and notorized all of that metadata that you're used to saying in a photo or video or even audio files or in other documents um allows you to sign it with a certificate and allows you to timestamp it with a third-party cryptographic timestamp server and then not only does it just have one event but it can have multiple like I rotated it I made a thumbnail I edited it with AI so it has that kind of Version Control and um and it's standard across formats so whether it's an mp4 or a JPEG or a PNG or a mp4a it's the same well that was of course one of Jeff's questions was how much is too much at what point is it no longer a a native um image it sounds like there's a there's a there's a history trail of what has been done to this original my and at that point I brought out my my Leica uh which I my excuse for buying this 11m uh p is that it had built in this uh authentication system um are you are you aware of what like has done and Adobe supposedly is support supporting this in some of their apps as well yeah yeah I've so I've held it and used that camera I haven't found the budget to own one myself it's expensive that was that was a Leo humble br yes it's beautiful EXC buying it yeah I have a picture yeah of myself taken with that camera that's I'm really happy so this embeds some uh it's like exf data some additional data in the photograph that is cryptographically signed so that only this camera could generate that I guess I presume this camera has a private key and it puts a public key in the in the image is that how it works yes and you could presumably follow a paper trail that would bring it back to this camera exactly and so we think that's wonderful and it's amazing when you know Nikon and Sony and others are getting on board um for us um Guardian Project's been around for 15 years focused on human rights activism and journalism you know we've been doing a version of this work that actually inspired the c2p standard they call C2 paa proof mode on steroids and so proof mode was our project um we worked with witness um Peter Gabriel's amazing organization to create an open- Source app software camera for iPhones and Android that does C2 paa now but it also you know in some ways you could think of c2p as an HTML and we were whatever was before H HTML stml or you know kind of pre pre-web right um so we're excited same intent and we're interoperable um and we the difference is that you can generate and control the keys with proof mode as opposed to you're like it's baked in and hard coated the identity piece right hey it's Leo leaport I hope you enjoyed this little snippet from our show this week in Google for the full show you can either go to our website twit.tv twig or find twig in your favorite podcast client and of course there's links right below somewhere down there for more informationthis is Twi uh so I got a great email from a guy we've interviewed before doc C has interviewed he's been on triangulation uh because he was very active in the tour project Nathan freus who works at the Harvard's Berkman Center he is the director of something called The Guardian Project and has an open source project called proof mod.org hi Nathan welcome hi Leah thanks for uh yeah responding to my urgent email because I heard that last week some things to say well first of all uh there is this c2p standard MH tell us what that is so the acronym stands for the Coalition for Content Providence and authentication um this um you know it's kind of funny to have a standard that has the word Coalition in it um but c2p can be thought of as almost like xif with cryptography added on to it and so it ads um and not just cryptography but also revision control so you have the ability to sign and notorized all of that metadata that you're used to saying in a photo or video or even audio files or in other documents um allows you to sign it with a certificate and allows you to timestamp it with a third-party cryptographic timestamp server and then not only does it just have one event but it can have multiple like I rotated it I made a thumbnail I edited it with AI so it has that kind of Version Control and um and it's standard across formats so whether it's an mp4 or a JPEG or a PNG or a mp4a it's the same well that was of course one of Jeff's questions was how much is too much at what point is it no longer a a native um image it sounds like there's a there's a there's a history trail of what has been done to this original my and at that point I brought out my my Leica uh which I my excuse for buying this 11m uh p is that it had built in this uh authentication system um are you are you aware of what like has done and Adobe supposedly is support supporting this in some of their apps as well yeah yeah I've so I've held it and used that camera I haven't found the budget to own one myself it's expensive that was that was a Leo humble br yes it's beautiful EXC buying it yeah I have a picture yeah of myself taken with that camera that's I'm really happy so this embeds some uh it's like exf data some additional data in the photograph that is cryptographically signed so that only this camera could generate that I guess I presume this camera has a private key and it puts a public key in the in the image is that how it works yes and you could presumably follow a paper trail that would bring it back to this camera exactly and so we think that's wonderful and it's amazing when you know Nikon and Sony and others are getting on board um for us um Guardian Project's been around for 15 years focused on human rights activism and journalism you know we've been doing a version of this work that actually inspired the c2p standard they call C2 paa proof mode on steroids and so proof mode was our project um we worked with witness um Peter Gabriel's amazing organization to create an open- Source app software camera for iPhones and Android that does C2 paa now but it also you know in some ways you could think of c2p as an HTML and we were whatever was before H HTML stml or you know kind of pre pre-web right um so we're excited same intent and we're interoperable um and we the difference is that you can generate and control the keys with proof mode as opposed to you're like it's baked in and hard coated the identity piece right hey it's Leo leaport I hope you enjoyed this little snippet from our show this week in Google for the full show you can either go to our website twit.tv twig or find twig in your favorite podcast client and of course there's links right below somewhere down there for more information\n"