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How Numbers Protocol Enhances C2PA with a Sustainable Blockchain Solution

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How Numbers Protocol Enhances C2PA with a Sustainable Blockchain Solution

As the digital world continues to expand, concerns about sustainability, carbon emissions, and the high costs of blockchain technology are growing. Numbers Mainnet is designed to be a sustainable, carbon-neutral, and cost-efficient blockchain solution. This article will explore how Numbers Protocol complements C2PA with its green blockchain approach, providing robust digital content verification and compliance with standards like C2PA, IPTC, and ERC-7053.

How Numbers Protocol Provides Digital Media Provenance with Blockchain

Numbers Protocol is like a library for digital media. It uses its native Numbers blockchain solution to keep track of who made what, who owns it, and how it's been used. This helps creators get the credit they deserve and ensures digital media is genuine.

Billions of images and videos are uploaded daily, and digital media authenticity is increasingly scrutinised. By leveraging blockchain technology, Numbers Protocol assigns a unique identifier (NID) to each piece of digital media, ensuring that critical information such as creation metadata, ownership, and licence details are stored securely and transparently. This system not only helps verify the authenticity of digital media but also empowers content creators by protecting their intellectual property and giving proper credit where it’s due.

How Numbers Mainnet Achieves Blockchain Sustainability and Carbon Neutrality

Built on the back of Avalanche Subnet’s energy efficient consensus mechanisms, Numbers Mainnet is able to operate with significantly lower energy requirements compared to traditional blockchains like Bitcoin or Ethereum.

Numbers Protocol is committed to achieving carbon neutrality by integrating sustainable practices and offsetting its carbon emissions. This commitment to sustainability not only enhances the protocol's appeal to environmentally conscious users but also sets a positive example for the broader blockchain industry. Through initiatives focused on reducing carbon footprints, Numbers Protocol demonstrates that technology and environmental responsibility can go hand in hand.

Numbers Mainnet vs Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Avalanche: A Comparison

Traditional blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum, while pioneering in their own right, face several limitations, including high energy consumption, slow transaction times, and exorbitant fees. Numbers Mainnet addresses these issues by offering a more sustainable, efficient, and cost-effective alternative. Let’s take some time to do a brief comparison:

  • Bitcoin: Bitcoin, the first and most well-known blockchain, relies on a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism, which requires significant computational power and energy. This results in high transaction fees and slow processing times. While Bitcoin excels as a store of value and a medium of exchange, its limitations make it less suitable for managing the high volume of digital media assets that Numbers Protocol handles.

  • Ethereum: Ethereum, known for its smart contract functionality, has broader applications than Bitcoin but still faces scalability and cost challenges. Ethereum's transition to Ethereum 2.0 and its move towards proof-of-stake (PoS) aims to address these issues, but the network still experiences congestion and high gas fees. Numbers Mainnet, with its Avalanche Subnet foundation, offers faster and cheaper transactions, making it a more practical choice for digital media management.

  • Avalanche: Avalanche, the technology underlying Numbers Mainnet, offers a highly efficient and scalable blockchain solution. Its consensus mechanism allows for thousands of transactions per second (TPS) with low latency and minimal fees. Avalanche's focus on sustainability and interoperability further enhances its appeal. Numbers Mainnet leverages these strengths, providing a robust platform for digital media verification and management that surpasses the capabilities of older blockchain technologies.

Why C2PA Alone Isn’t Enough for Digital Content Verification

C2PA, or the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity, is an open technical standard designed to combat misinformation and verify the origin of digital content. By embedding provenance data into media files, C2PA enables users to trace the source and modifications of content, thereby ensuring its authenticity. However, the integrity of this metadata can be compromised during the content lifecycle due to various factors, such as intentional tampering, accidental removal, or transformations that strip the metadata (like social media uploads). This compromised or lost metadata is referred to as "C2PA-Loss" content.

C2PA-Loss content poses a significant challenge. Without the embedded metadata, it becomes nearly impossible  to verify the provenance and authenticity of the media. To better understand the current landscape of C2PA and its reliability, we investigated multiple platforms that claim to be C2PA compliant. Our investigation found at least two cases of metadata loss as well as inconsistent adoption of C2PA. Presently, C2PA’s provenance design is fragile, mutable and at the mercy of external factors. If we want robust and reliable provenance standards we will need more than C2PA. This is where Numbers Blockchain based provenance solution comes into play!

How Numbers Protocol Complements C2PA with Blockchain Immutability

Blockchain and C2PA can work together to create a robust content provenance system. While C2PA provides a standardised framework for labelling content, blockchain adds immutability and decentralisation to ensure the security of that information. We demonstrated how content that has lost its C2PA label was able to be traced back to its origin utilizing Numbers Protocol.

As veterans of the provenance space, Numbers Protocol is committed to communicating provenance as much as storing on-chain data. To make each content registered in the blockchain easily recognizable and manageable, Numbers asset page was created. Asset profile functions similarly to a "LinkedIn" for digital assets. They offer unique identifiers, decentralised storage records, on-chain records, and extensive metadata, providing a detailed record of an asset's provenance and history.

Overview of a asset profile page

You can get an asset profile page of your media by using any mobile device, desktop, or even automated system, one of the easiest ways is using Capture Dashboard.

Using the Capture Dashboard:

  1. Login to Capture Dashboard: Visit the Capture Dashboard at https://dashboard.captureapp.xyz/main?tab=dashboard and log in with your credentials.
  2. Recent Uploads: Once logged in, you can see your recent uploads. Select the media you want to view to access its Asset Profile details.


  1. Asset Profile Sections: The Asset Profile is divided into two sections: Provenance and Details.some text
    • Provenance: This section includes:some text
      • Nid
      • Creator
      • Registration Time
      • Capture Time
      • Geolocation
      • File Mimetype
      • Source Type
    • Details: This section includes:some text
      • License
      • Abstract
      • Initial Minter
      • Mining Preference
      • Integrity Proof
  2. Toggle Privacy: Use the toggle button to set the media as private or public.

  3. Share Asset Profile: Click on the "Publish" button to generate a link that allows you to share the Asset Profile with others.

How Numbers Protocol Complies with C2PA, IPTC, and ERC-7053 Standards

Numbers complies not only with C2PA standards, but also broader standards such as IPTC and our own ERC-7053 standard.

Understanding IPTC

The International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC) is a global standards organization that develops and maintains technical standards for the exchange of news and media content. IPTC's standards are widely used in the media industry to ensure the consistent and accurate dissemination of information.

Key Features of IPTC:

  • Metadata Standards: Providing a comprehensive framework for embedding metadata into digital media, including information about the creator, copyright, keywords, and more.
  • Interoperability: Ensuring that media content can be easily shared and understood across different platforms and systems.
  • Compliance: Facilitating adherence to legal and ethical standards in media creation and distribution.

IPTC compliance is essential for media organizations and digital content platforms aiming to ensure the accurate and consistent representation of information. By following IPTC standards, organizations can improve the discoverability and reliability of their content, enhancing the overall trustworthiness of the media landscape.

Understanding ERC-7053

ERC-7053 is a proposed Ethereum standard that aims to enhance the management and verification of digital content on the blockchain. It is designed to complement existing standards like C2PA and IPTC, providing a robust framework for the provenance and authenticity of digital assets.

ERC-7053 introduces several features that make it a valuable addition to the digital media ecosystem:

  • Content Provenance: Embedding detailed provenance information into digital assets, including creation, authorship, and modification history.
  • Interoperability: Ensuring compatibility with other standards like C2PA and IPTC, allowing for seamless integration and verification across different platforms.
  • Decentralized Verification: Utilizing blockchain technology to provide a decentralized and immutable record of digital content provenance, enhancing trust and transparency.
  • Enhanced Security: Leveraging Ethereum's robust security features to protect digital content from tampering and unauthorized modifications.

ERC-7053 is designed to address some of the limitations of existing standards, providing a more comprehensive and secure solution for managing digital content provenance. By integrating ERC-7053 with other standards, platforms can offer users a higher level of assurance regarding the authenticity and integrity of digital media.

Adopting multiple standards for digital content provenance and verification offers several advantages. By complying with standards like C2PA, IPTC, and ERC-7053, digital media platforms can provide users with a comprehensive and robust framework for managing and verifying digital assets.

Real-World Applications of Numbers Protocol in Digital Media and Elections

Misinformation and Disinformation from Generative AI adoption

The digital media landscape is undergoing a rapid transformation, driven by advancements in technology, there are increasing concerns about the authenticity and trustworthiness of online content. Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) are poised to play a significant role in enhancing digital media trust. 

Blockchain technology, with its decentralised and immutable nature, offers a powerful solution for ensuring the provenance and integrity of digital content. By providing a tamper-proof record of content creation, modification, and ownership, blockchain can significantly reduce the risk of misinformation and digital fraud.

Ensuring the integrity of elections.

2024 is the first election year with wide adoption of AI. In a sense, we could say that it’s the year of the AI election. Numbers Protocol in collaboration with the Starling Lab has led an initiative to rebuild digital trust by addressing the challenges of disinformation and fake news during elections.

Leveraging blockchain technology, the Taiwan Election project marks a significant step towards a future where the provenance and integrity of digital content are highly valued, and election coverage is protected against denialism and mis- and disinformation. Similar technologies have been adopted in the Indonesian and Indian elections, and more election collaborations are coming, showcasing a global trend.

Empower Content Creators

Provenance and blockchain also could play a crucial role in empowering content creators by providing them with tools to protect their intellectual property and ensure proper attribution. By embedding detailed provenance data into their digital assets and recording it on the blockchain, content creators can establish a clear and verifiable record of their work. This helps protect their creations from unauthorised use and ensures that they receive proper credit for their contributions. Moreover, the use of smart contracts in blockchain enables automated royalty distribution, further supporting content creators in monetizing their work. This includes managing AI copyright issues, ensuring creators' rights are respected in the digital age.

This forms the foundation for Ethical AI practices, ensuring that AI-driven solutions are used responsibly and transparently.

Conclusion

The journey towards enhancing digital media trust is a collective effort that requires the participation and collaboration of various stakeholders. Here are some actions that different groups can take to contribute to this mission:

  • Technology Companies: Continue to develop and implement advanced technologies like blockchain, AI, and ML to enhance digital content provenance and verification. Collaborate with other stakeholders to create and promote the adoption of robust standards.
  • Media Organizations: Adopt and comply with established standards like C2PA, IPTC, and ERC-7053 to ensure the authenticity and reliability of digital content. Invest in tools and technologies that facilitate comprehensive provenance tracking and verification.
  • Policymakers: Enact regulations that promote transparency, accountability, and trust in digital media. Support initiatives and collaborations aimed at enhancing digital content provenance and combating misinformation.
  • Consumers: Stay informed about the tools and technologies available for verifying digital content. Demand transparency and accountability from digital media platforms and support initiatives that promote digital media trust.

Numbers Protocol is revolutionizing digital content verification with blockchain technology and C2PA integration. Explore how we help secure digital media, empower content creators, and combat misinformation. Contact us for more information on how Numbers Protocol can enhance your platform’s content integrity.

Read more about Provenance, C2PA and Numbers Protocol

Learn more about how Numbers Protocol ensures digital media authenticity through blockchain and provenance standards. Explore our tech series for in-depth insights on securing digital content and combating misinformation. The goal of this multipart series is to discuss provenance at a high level and provide more technically inclined readers a full dive into how to execute digital provenance. You can find the full list of this series here :

Part 1: What is Provenance and why we need it

Part 2: What is C2PA, Add C2PA easily with Capture

Part 3: Take True Photo with C2PA Watermark from Mobile Phones

Part 4 : Add C2PA easily with Capture API

Part 5 : C2PA for Music and Video Platforms with Capture API

Part 6 : How Generative AI Companies Can Use C2PA with Capture API – Part 1

Part 7 : Integrating C2PA with Numbers Protocol for Generative AI – Part 2

Part 8 : Verify and Browse Content Information

Part 9 : You are here

Part 10 : How C2PA and Blockchain Verify Election News and Combat Misinformation

Part 11 : How C2PA and Blockchain Technology Preserve Human History

Part 12 : How to Secure C2PA-Signed Content with Blockchain Proof: Simple Guide

Part 13 : How Numbers Mainnet Offers a Sustainable, Secure, and Inclusive Blockchain Solution

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