Your camera phone has a unique fingerprint

TL : DR : The sensor of your camera is not perfect . Those imperfections are present in every photo . They can be used to track your device .

The number of megapixel your phone 's camera has translate to the number of dots in every taken picture . 12 megapixel equals 12 million dots . Every dot consists of intensities of the 3 colors , red , green and blue . Theese intensities are the amount of light that hits the sensor . Due to production tolerances , some areas on the sensor will interpret the incoming light slightly different . As a result , some pixels may be a little too intense or not intense enough . The resulting picture will , in turn , always be either a little bit too bright or too dark on this very pixel . In comparison to noise introduced by other sources , like low light , this pattern will stay the same for every photo taken . With 12 million pixels and 3 colors , the pattern is very likely unique . By taking a number of photos we can find out which intensities stay the same , even with changing of the portrayed content and other noise factors . After we filter those , all that 's left is pattern of brighter and darker spots on a pixel level that can be found in every picture taken by this specific camera . This method stays the same for the lifetime of the camera and gives us a solid way to know if photo was taken by this specific phone . It is not version or vendor specific but specific to every single unit produced . We call the extracted pattern fingerprint because with it your phone can be identified Android users can check out this app that shows them this here:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.fau.camfinger


Comments


[15 Points] tutters1:

This isn't really a problem at all to the average DNM user lol


[3 Points] throwahooawayyfoe:

In comparison to noise introduced by other sources , like low light , this pattern will stay the same for every photo taken

What if the photos are taken under different wavelengths of light? Would a picture taken under infrared conditions would turn out differently than one taken in ultraviolet light? And what about digitally-added after effects to physically alter the color intensities of the image? I'm curious if this is something that could be worked around by altering certain specific things in an image, or if we all just have to live with this now and start swapping out our camers every week.


[2 Points] None:

Does this also apply to DSLR?


[2 Points] DooshNozzzle:

could you make this a non-issue by editing the photo? decreasing the pixel count, blurring non-essential parts of the pic, as well as cropping the photo etc?


[2 Points] Nano-Bunny:

So if I understand this correctly it sounds resolution specific, so for a work around just alter your resolution on pictures you are worried about? I mean sure you will still have a micro pattern but if it isn't set as your default then you should be fine in theory. A pattern is going to exist at any resolution from your phone in theory, but if someone is looking into you so hard they check the micro pattern on every resolution your phone can do - you got bigger problems.


[1 Points] tranquilizedme:

It's not only camera phones problem, all cameras have a unique fingerprints.


[1 Points] None:

[deleted]

What is this?


[1 Points] ILIKEDRUGSTUFF:

Your butt ring also has a unique fingerprint


[1 Points] None:

[deleted]


[1 Points] tweakingaway:

Your finger print has a unique finger print.