Thu 16 Jul 2026

Across photography (1860s–1900s), art authentication (post–van Meegeren), and currency security, the same pattern recurs: when imitation outpaces detection, societies shift from forensic identification of fakes to provenance-based verification of originals. Courts resolved photographic forgery not by improving visual inspection but by adopting chain-of-custody rules; art markets shifted from connoisseurship to ownership documentation; central banks abandoned reliance on citizens spotting counterfeits in favor of controlled issuance and audit trails. The current movement toward cryptographic content provenance for AI-generated media — C2PA, content credentials, signed metadata — is the fourth documented instance of this pattern, not a novel response.

Not submitted.