A new mechanism integrated into Photoshop will be released soon, and it will be able to, among other things, assist show that the person selling an NFT is the same person who developed it. In this case, the Adobe ID will be linked to a crypto wallet, enabling compatible NFT markets to display a type of validated certificate indicating the art’s source is real. This is known as Content Credentials.
An interview with Adobe’s chief product officer Scott Belsky for Decoder revealed that this feature would be introduced into Photoshop as a “prepare as NFT” option, which will be available in preview by the end of this month. According to Belsky, the attribution data generated by the Content Credentials will be stored on an IPFS system for safekeeping.
IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) is a decentralized means to store files in which a network of individuals are responsible for keeping data secure and accessible, rather than a single corporation, rather than a single company is responsible for keeping data safe and available (somewhat similar to how torrent systems work).
Adobe claims that non-traditional markets (NFTs) such as OpenSea, Rarible, KnownOrigin, and SuperRare will be able to interface with Content Credentials in order to display Adobe’s attribution data. Art theft has always been a big problem in the realm of New Forms of Expression.
On the blockchain, there have been several instances of individuals minting artwork that they did not produce or do not hold the rights to on their own. The reason for this is because anybody may create an NFT, even if they do not possess the intellectual property rights to the material, and there is nothing the blockchain can do to prevent this from happening.
Even worse, since the minting is recorded on the blockchain, the NFT’s creation seems to be genuine even if you aren’t familiar with the original effort. To put it another way, I could right-click on an existing picture of an NFT and mint it myself, perhaps deceiving unsuspecting purchasers into thinking they were purchasing a genuine NFT.
While Adobe’s approach will not eliminate art theft, it will provide a means of demonstrating that the NFT you’re selling is not stolen – after that, it will be up to customers to determine how much value they put on that proof of authenticity.
Even Banksy, who appears in Decoder and is mentioned in the book, has been a victim of NFT fraudsters. In one instance, an NFT collector (ironically called Pranksy) spent $300,000 for an NFT credited to the famed street artist, which was very certainly a forgery.
He eventually received his money back, but there would have been less of a commotion if Banksy had digitally signed the NFT in the first place. In addition, as Adobe’s Belsky points out, Banksy is unlikely to want to associate his name and Adobe ID with a cryptocurrency wallet; however, because the system is intended to be open-source, it’s possible that the anonymous artist will figure out a way to provide Content Credentials that are verified by the company in charge of authenticating his work.
Adobe’s Content Credentials, which are a product of the company’s Content Authenticity Initiative, will assist a wide range of industries. NFTs are only one example. According to the business, the system will be released as a beta version, and users will be able to use it to highlight what changes were made to a Photoshop file, tag their stock pictures on Adobe’s system, and more.
Adobe is offering addition details via this week’s episode of Decoder. Furthermore, the coverage of Adobe’s Max conference will provide the firm’s position on non-financial transactions, the influence of certified attribution on art and non-financial transactions, and Photoshop on the web.
