From TechWeb:
Digital photographers could soon lose their ability to anonymously shoot sensitive or illegal subject matter, thanks to new research that can link digital images to the camera with which they were taken.
The research, conducted at Binghamton University in New York, analyzes the slight variations created by the image sensor in each camera to uniquely identify pictures.
The technology is being presented as potentially useful in nailing child pornographers. “The defense in these kind of cases would often be that the images were not taken by this person’s camera,” Jessica Fridrich, the Binghamton University engineering professor who oversaw the research, said in a statement. “But if it can be shown that the original images were taken by the person’s cell phone or camera, it becomes a much stronger case.”
This is great news! Aside from the loss of anonymous “Peeping Tom” types (and other questionable uses for digies), this provides a great tool for copyright infringement cases to we honest photographers.