• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, November 4, 2019

Adobe, The New York Times Co., and Twitter Monday announced the Content Authenticity Initiative to develop an industry standard means for authenticating sources of digital content.

“The ability to provide proper content attribution for creators and publishers is critical to ensure trust and transparency online,” the companies said in a joint announcement.

The companies said Adobe is developing what they described as “an opt-in system that will allow creators and publishers to securely attach attribution data to content they choose to share.

“The framework is designed to let authors verify their content so that they receive proper attribution and provide consumers with an attribution trail to give them greater confidence about the authenticity of the content they’re consuming.”

Adobe said it has already demonstrated a “prototype” providing content attribution embedded in its Photoshop software at Adobe MAX conference, running this week in Los Angeles.

“Combating misinformation will require the entire ecosystem— creators, publishers and platforms—to work together. This initiative lays the groundwork for doing that through open standards and protocols,” New York Times Co. Head of Research & Development Marc Lavallee  stated in the announcement.