Cambridge Business Association
Building Trust at the Origin
Article

Building Trust at the Origin

Project Origin aims to create a measure of accountability through provenance: By certifying the source of the content like a watermark, we can safeguard against manipulation.

Microsoft | ALT Stories
Microsoft, 2021
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In one of its “ALT Stories,” Microsoft introduces “Project Origin,” which seeks to create a “chain of trust” between media content producers and consumers. In a video section of Building Trust at the Origin, Microsoft distinguished engineer Henrique Malvar explains how synthetic media, while useful for education, creative expression and more, is too often used for societal and political manipulation. Project Origin proposes an open standard that creates “accountability through provenance,” through which people can authenticate each media source by noting a trusted watermark. 

Summary

As global disinformation proliferates in the 21st century, public trust in media declines.

In years past, media remained relatively unchanged from publisher to consumer. It was created by professionals and delivered by trusted individuals. Those “closed” information systems allowed people to trust that what was seen and heard was produced by the original publisher.

The internet and social media created a decentralized distribution system. Information is redistributed through third-party publishers, then further redistributed through millions of individual consumers. In this environment, disinformation spreads like wildfire on websites, streaming platforms and social media sites. This opens the door for purposely manipulated media, which is often difficult to detect.

Project Origin provides tools for publishers and consumers that identify altered media.

Project Origin’s tools give people more opportunities to decide whether information is trustworthy or not – by considering its actual source.

For producers, new tools register media items with a digital fingerprint. Content creators receive a certification...

About the Author

Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation which produces computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services.

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