April 23, 2024 HelpLine

Q) An interesting problem came up recently with regards to evidence of bylaw contraventions in Pretoria, City of Tshwane, South Africa. The City Councils officials have switched to digital cameras for much of their work. However, it turns out that in court proceedings, the magistrates/judges aren’t prepared to accept digital photographs as evidence because of the possibility of “fabricating” evidence. This is a valid point, and they want photographic film evidence, either positives or negatives. The question then is whether there’s any photographic processing done in-camera, which leaves a watermark (maybe we should call that a “digimark”), which will indicate when pixels in the original have been removed or added, as opposed to colour, gamma and highlight or shadow adjustment to improve the original photo WITHOUT altering any evidence that might be required in court. If not available yet, this is certainly worthwhile exploring.