A Multilevel Asymmetric Scheme for Digital Fingerprinting

• Published in: IEEE transactions on multimedia Vol. 10; no. 5; pp. 758 - 766
• Main Authors: Boato, G., De Natale, F., Fontanari, C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.08.2008; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Asymmetric watermarking; Asymmetry; Computer science; control theory; systems; Computer systems and distributed systems. User interface; Cryptography; Degradation; digital fingerprinting; Exact sciences and technology; Fingerprint recognition; Fingerprinting; Image degradation; Interpolation; Linear algebra; Memory and file management (including protection and security); Memory organisation. Data processing; Multilevel; polynomial interpolation; Polynomials; Reproduction; Robustness; Security; Servers; Software; Watermarking; Multimedia; Fingerprint; Anonymity; Subgroup; Stéganography; digital fingerprinting; Blurred image; Asymmetric watermarking; Social psychology; Asymmetry; Confidence; Polynomial interpolation; Linear algebra; Robustness; Safety; Digital watermarking
• ISSN: 1520-9210; 1941-0077
• DOI: 10.1109/TMM.2008.922857

The present paper proposes an asymmetric watermarking scheme suitable for fingerprinting and precision-critical applications. The method is based on linear algebra and is proved to be secure under projection attack. The problem of anonymous fingerprinting is also addressed, by allowing a client to get a watermarked image from a server without revealing her own identity. In particular, we consider the specific scenario where the client is a structured organization being trusted as a whole but involving possibly untrusted members. In such a context, where the watermarked copy can be made available to all members, but only authorized subgroups should be able to remove the watermark and recover a distortion-free image, a multilevel access to the embedding key is provided by applying Birkhoff polynomial interpolation. Extensive simulations demonstrate the robustness of the proposed method against standard image degradation operators.