How to reliably authenticate an artist’s work.
Problem
When an anonymous person uploads a photo onto Steemit I don’t upvote. Even if the picture is glorious, I have no way to know if it’s authentic. Since it’s possible to pass off someone else’s work as their own, the photographer who actually takes the photo has no way to prove it belongs to them.
Furthermore, if I want to personally reuse the photo, I could never be sure I’m not violating the copyright on someone else’s work.
Solution
A camera that had the capability to communicate with a blockchain in real-time, and has a unique cryptographic identity on that blockchain, could solve the problem. Then the photographer could simply sign into the camera with their private key similar to a multisig address.
Every picture taken would be verifiable with a timestamp and the credentials of the photographer. A hash of the photo can be stored via IPFS and the photographer is then free to upload their original content to Steemit with the hash. They would also have the option to grant a public license for the reuse of the photo by others.
Now everyone who views the photo is free to upvote and pay the artist for their work.
Is my thinking correct on this? Has it already been done?
