User:Pedro Sá Couto/Graduate Research Seminar Trim 5/Chapter 02 08012020
From the XPUB PAD
https://pad.xpub.nl/p/psc_chapter_02_03
Part 02
SORTING IMPRINTS
Background on Watermarking
The internet as a carrier of digital media changed how we share music, books, video and other media. The integration of digital watermarks is becoming more and more popular to fight the fast-paced spaces opened to share pirated material. The research on watermarks is currently being shaped to strengthen watermarks, embedding robustness with respect to compression, image-processing operations, and cryptographic attacks (Shih, 2017). We now understand watermarks as being both digital and physical, but they are not new phenomena and it is relevant to understand where they come from.
The art of papermaking has its roots in China in the 1st Century. The process was first documented in China in 105 A.D. and ascribed to Cai Lun (Basbanes, 2014). Watermarks only appear later in 1282. The process of watermarking happens while making a sheet of paper whilst the paper is still wet. Watermarks are a result of changing the thickness of a certain part of the paper creating a highlighted area and its shadow. We trace the beginning of watermarks in the town of Fabriano (Hunter, 1987). It is important to acknowledge the historical importance of the Italian city of Fabriano. From the name "Fabriano", in Latin "faber > Făbrĭcĭus", meaning “craftsman, artificer, maker” (Latin Dictionary and Grammar Resources - Latdict, n.d.). The practical skills in forging metal and shaping wire were key to building the frames used to remove excess water, gather the pulp and to start forming the first sheets of paper.
[Figure 01 — Illustration of paper mill by Jost Amman. Frankfurt, 1568]
Watermarks analogue Intention
The history of watermarks is still relatively obscure. We are not able to fully trace back their ancient significance. A few different theories have been discussed on what was the actual purpose and use of these venerable watermarks. One that I came across with was to help with the production of the sheets of paper. Using them as a way of identifying the size of the frames and the sheets of paper produced by these. (Hunter, 1987) Another hypothesis is that the craftsmen that were working in the production of the paper were illiterate. Watermarks were then a strategy of appealing with pictures or symbols. This way to communicate an idea would lead to a smaller chance of creating misunderstandings. The first applications of watermarks compel these possibilities, but it is also possible that in parallel these may be an artistic production of the papermakers. These can also be no more than a fashionable imprint left by the artists making the frames, as a way to identify themselves, creating then an aesthetic enhancement or a signature of quality. (Watkins, 1990)
Watermarks are now seen as a way to establish provenance to manufacturers of papers, paper mills and manuscripts. These are also able to provide evidence about the movement of paper across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. We now comprehend how the use of watermarks was a key factor in the recognition of paper quality contributing to the increasing desire of specific papers. We can not establish the provenance of a book immediately to a specific place only based on the watermarks because of the commercial trades of paper. While an Italian watermark may be found in a particular paper, this would only set provenance to where the paper was manufactured and not its afterlife. Watermarks embody graphics such as animals, plants and sacramental imagery but also were representations of geographical territories and in general representations of Western culture. In Umbria, Italy, for example, the Benedictine monasteries endorsed the 3-hilled mount topped with a cross as their symbol. Developed by the French and Venetians we identify watermarks imagery of the tre lune/three crescent moons. These strategies were adopted because of Muslims in the Ottoman market. They were expected to choose in favour of papers with these kinds of imagery rather than a Christian cross or other similar motifs. (makingmanuscriptsblog, 2017)
[IMAGE — Western Watermark imagery. 3 Mountain Hill, Snake and Cross. Eichstädt, 1484]
Connecting watermarks and library stamps
One can create a strong link between watermarks and the introduction of library stamps. Both creating a body of evidence when trying to establish connections in a collection. Library stamps are also perceived as an imprint left, visible and sometimes glued. Able to question ownership and acquisition. In libraries, books were stamped to mark ownership of the book. The relation was created between the physical medium and the library adding traces of provenance to the collection. Library stamps would not be related to the readers of a book nor they were intended to do so. These connections would happen connecting circumstance and date of acquisition and creating relations in the library itself.
Though library stamps are helpful when trying to determine the time frame and history of an item in a collection, the process of adding the stamps is not necessarily performed when a book enters a collection, this can happen later on. Unlike watermarks where it is unlikely that the act of tempering the paper fibres doesn't happen in simultaneous to when a paper sheet is made, stamps were commonly applied later from the date of the item acquisition. This lead to mistakes that are now commonly recognized. Along with stamps, to build a body of evidence for determining both the circumstance and date of acquisition clues may be found on bindings, bookplates or inscriptions. (Duffy, 2013)
[IMAGE — Left: Oval hand stamp for manuscripts with the words BRITISH LIBRARY. Centre: India Office hand stamp for non-small ‘claim material’ items. These items were treated as part of the British Library collection. Right: Library stamp from previous Oriental and India Office Collections. Use of this stamp ceased on 1 September 2005]
A shift into Watermarks Digital Intention
Watermarks got more important with the introduction of paper currency. One of the big shifts I identify is when they are first applied to a banknote paper in England, by a papermaker named Rice Watkins in 1697 (Mockford, 2014). Watermarks were added as a way to deter counterfeits and making the act of forging more difficult, enabling easier targeting to the ones who were doing it. In England in 1773, the death penalty was extended to those who would create watermarks with the name of the Bank of England.
Just as in paper money, watermarks are now used to establish authenticity and their digital implementation, started to get more popular. Emil Hembrooke patented the first digital watermark, “Identification of sound and like signals”, US Patent 3,004,104 Filed 1954, Issued 1961. In the US patent, we can read: " The present invention makes possible the identification of the origin of a musical presentation and thereby constitutes an effective means of preventing such piracy” (J. Cox and L. Miller, 2002).
[IMAGE — Identification of sound and like signals Patent https://patents.google.com/patent/US3004104]
In the 1990's the interest in watermarks increased drastically. Currently one can find them in various forms of copyrighted watermarks material. Nowadays, as most information and data are stored in digital formats and not in physical ones, being able to provide legitimacy and to prove authenticity is progressively representing a more important task. (Shih, 2017) Digital watermarks are mostly known as being visual. The normalization of their use in photographs, on video stored on DVDs is a reality by now. In trial software, these also appear often. Instead of restricting the use of software, what happens is when we are exporting our work watermarks are appended to them. Personally, I read these action almost as an arrogant way of advertisement and capitalizing on the users. We are held responsible for using software and at the same time we are targeted as a commodity. It might be read as a message where we are made aware that money will be made from their users in any way possible.
Appropriation in Publishing
Another big shift on the use of watermarks happens with their appropriation in the publishing market. Watermarks are now used to create a body of evidence on users, adding traces that relate to the subject. More precisely with geolocation, IP addresses, mac addresses, email addresses, etc. A good example of this is phenomena is Verso Books publisher. They sell their books in an online ebook store. In this store, Verso books appends a new page in the begging of each book with the downloaders name and his' or her's email address, it also appends a watermark with the IP address of the downloader in the footer of the first page of every chapter.
During my research, I came across an article about different forms of DRM. In this article, the writer starts by giving a disclaimer where he starts by portraiting himself as "a supporter of milder types of DRM like digital watermarks". What caught my attention was how the mode of address changed when he started to identify all the unnecessary strategies implemented by Verso Books in their ebooks. More important we can understand that their watermarks didn't pass unnoticed to the store users. A source interviewed states: "Personally, I felt like I was constantly being sent a stalker's note saying, 'I know where you live.' It put me off reading the books entirely." (Hoffelder, 2014) The way we are leaving imprints that identify us as downloaders and printers is alarming. Verso Books are calling out their users as pirates and companies, such as BooXtream are making this possible, using us as an asset to capitalize on.
During my research, I came across the company that develops the watermarks to Verso Books. This is a Dutch DRM company called "BooXtream®". It is worrying how they portray themselves, the first quality that they promote on their DRM methods is traceability. We can read in a bold font: "A publication that has been BooXtreamed can be traced back to the shop and even to the individual customer." (BooXtream, n.d.) Watermarks are now perceived as something to fear. And used to make us feel uncomfortable. Surveillance might be quickly spotted as it commonly happens with CCTV because we can establish a physical connection with it, we can see it, we can choose a different path to walk from it or even try to disguise ourselves. We were able to accept that digital surveillance is a reality but we didn't feel a close connection to it yet. I consider that digital watermarks are a vehicle establishing this direct connection. It is still difficult though to predict what will be the impact of these techniques if users are afraid to share an ebook that they bought and paid for.
Surveillance in publishing not only manifests itself in visible ways. Another article that I came across was from the Electronic Frontier Foundation raising awareness to the Machine Identification Code. First published by the PC World as "Government Uses Color Laser Printer Technology to Track Documents" in 2004, this code is formed by a pattern of dots that are appended to every printed page. It is added by the printer software in the process of printing. These are almost imperceptible yellow dots carrying information as the date of print, time and the serial number of the machine. Similar technology is used when you try to scan a banknote. A sequence of yellow dots in the printed in the paper triggers the printer to add a striped pattern on the top of the copy, preventing you from copying it.
I delved into trying to understand if they were still in use and I had to be able to prove their existence for myself. I started by using methods to identify them, such as UV lights, different printers, from HP to Canon and from Inkjet to Lasers printers. Almost when I was giving up, disappointed with all the time invested in this, I started to reverse engineer this machine identification code and implementing my own. While creating messages, printed in a very small font size and scanning these printed pages, I was starting to understand better how to make them visible. With a new scanner with a resolution of 1200 dpi and after inverting the colours, they suddenly appear. Just as by magic, a mesh of my messages and the tracking dots started to emerge. In the end, I was able to identify them in all the printers provided by the school in the Blaak building. It is worrying that this hidden code is infiltrated in documents and can be seen by anyone. They are not only used in case you are a suspect of a crime, but they are also available for anyone at all times. Being able to come across them made me rethink what did it mean to publish in print, how safe is it, and how it might affect the ones who depend on printed forms of publishing.
[IMAGE — Tracking Dots found in the university printers]
During this second chapter, I explored the progression of watermarks. From their background, until their appropriation, as an asset to incite fear, self-awareness, and to remotely control and constrain user actions. It was important for the development of my project to emphasize how ancient watermarks are valued at this moment. During the next chapter, I will expand my research from a point of view where I consider the early framework of watermarks crucial to prevail. I desire to demonstrate that what lies at the heart of their use is their ability to portrait crucial suspended actions and moments in history. From giving insights into hidden processes of fabrication documented in the sheets of paper, while carrying clues to comprehend their artisans, historical timeframes and different imagery. I will then extrapolate on how the use of digital watermarks can still be prominent apart from what I recognize as their misappropriation, exploring that the current attitude towards digital watermarking is not the only valid. This led me to focus my research on how the discourse around all these reinforcements of copyright can be flipped around. I will delve into how tactics that seem mainly negative can be re-appropriated.