Why there is a need for camera encryption in today's highly volatile world

Photography began as a science experiment which later turned into a serious profession. Only the ones who could afford the cost had the luxury to take photographs. Today making a photograph is easier and quicker than solving a math problem. Everyone can afford a camera or a smartphone that comes equipped with a camera. Billions of photos are thrown on the internet and to some extent it worries me. We are carelessly putting our personal lives up on the internet. There was a point in my life where I went to a professional photography school because I wanted to seriously learn the art, beyond just clicking ‘artistic’ photos. Somewhere I still want to leave everything and make a career in photography. I do shoot almost everyday, as more than just taking a picture I think recording a memory is important. This brings me to a huge fear I have when it comes to photography. Losing my pictures. Of course, I keep backups on my hard drives. But what if I am out on an assignment, or even a vacation and shoot something insane. And before I can make a copy my camera gets stolen. It would be horrified to lose my camera, but at the same time I would be devastated knowing that I would never get those pictures and videos back. On top of that, my pictures could be misused. Okay, I agree, me losing some pictures or footage won’t impact the world, but what about professional photojournalists and documentary filmmakers? A recent report states that Laura Poitras, the documentary filmmaker who shot footage of the alleged NSA leaker Edward Snowden in a Hong Kong hotel room and went on to make a documentary - Citizenfour - which would win an Academy Award, has joined 150 other documentary filmmakers to sign an open letter from the non-profit Freedom of the Press Foundation. This letter is addressed to camera vendors including Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Sony, Fuji, Kodak and Ricoh. The open letter from the foundation asks the camera companies to add encryption features to their range of cameras so that one’s precious footage cannot be misused by a thief, cop or even the law, in case they are stolen or taken by force. [caption id=“attachment_353406” align=“aligncenter” width=“540”]  Laura Poitras. (Image: Getty Images)[/caption] The letter reads, “We work in some of the most dangerous parts of the world, often attempting to uncover wrongdoing in the interests of justice. On countless occasions, filmmakers and photojournalists have seen their footage being seized by authoritarian governments or criminals. Because the contents of their cameras are not and cannot be encrypted, there is no way to protect any of the footage once it has been taken. This puts ourselves, our sources, and our work at risk.” A response from the camera makers is still due, although Nikon wrote in a statement that “the company is constantly listening to the needs of an evolving market and considering photographer feedback, and we will continue to evaluate product features to best suit the needs of our users.” “When you’re in the field filming and your camera is taken by authorities, that footage is completely vulnerable. That’s where encryption is really needed," says Poitras. I’ve actually gone through something similar. While attending my photography course, I was out shooting in the streets of Mumbai. A group of cops spotted me taking pictures around a state government building. I was asked to stop shooting so I did, and explained that I am training to be a photographer. When I questioned one of the cops for a valid reason, I was asked to hand over my camera to them. After a bit of heated discussion, I was asked to delete all the pictures in front of a senior Police officer. Now someone like me can easily recover pictures with a software, but when it comes to highly sensitive photos or videos, things can get our of hands. I strongly believe that encryption should be added to cameras, especially the ones used by professionals. Smartphones and even apps today come with encryption to safeguard the privacy of the user. Remember the San Bernardino incident ? It isn’t easy as it sounds though. It will be a challenge for camera makers, technically and financially. Adding an encryption method where the camera encrypts an image or video before saving data into the storage could hamper on the performance, especially fast paced action like sports. Add to that high-definition content, and the performance goes down even further. Jonathan Zdziarski, an encryption and forensics expert who also a semi-professional photographer says that integrating encryption without slowing down the performance would require new software, dedicated new microprocessors to encrypt files with maximum efficiency and security engineers that camera companies don’t usually have. How about adding a feature where at the push of a button, a user can encrypt the storage of the camera with a password? Apart from the camera makers, I believe memory card makers can also implement something similar. A majority of SD cards today have a lock that makes it write protected. In a similar way, they could be encrypted and decrypted only with a password.