FourMatch, the lie detector for photos
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Back in June, I wrote a story on a new company that was developing software for digital imaging forensics. The company is named Fourandsix Technologies (get it?) and now they’ve released their first commercially available product. It’s called FourMatch and it is a Photoshop extension that provides evidence as to whether a JPEG file has been edited in any way since it was created.
FourMatch is described as a potentially important tool in legal cases, where a jury can rely on it to confirm that photographic evidence is in fact, real. Also, insurance companies and news organizations, who would suffer the consequences of trusting a faked photo, would also be natural customers.
FourMatch works by comparing the metadata and digital "signatures" in a JPEG to a database of information from thousands of cameras, mobile devices, and software products. When there is a match to a camera or mobile device, that is strong evidence that the photo is authentic.
When there is no match, or a match to image editing software (such as Photoshop), it’s more likely that the photo has been manipulated.
For a demonstration of FourMatch, check out this video from Fourandsix:
Such power does not come cheaply, as FourMatch retails for $890—well above the cost of Photoshop itself. The pricing is explained in a post at the fourandsix blog:
That $890 price point should also be a pretty clear signal that this is not a consumer tool. That price accomplishes two things. It ensures that some of the folks with unrealisitic expectations will be unlikely to purchase it on impulse. And it also ensures that, as we begin this journey by focusing on a narrower set of problems for a narrower set of people, we can still bring in enough revenue to fund solving that next set of problems. For the people we’re aiming FourMatch at, we aim to provide more than enough value to justify the cost.
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