Anti-Neuron Watermarking: Protecting Personal Data Against Unauthorized Neural Networks

We study protecting a user's data (images in this work) against a learner's unauthorized use in training neural networks. It is especially challenging when the user's data is only a tiny percentage of the learner's complete training set. We revisit the traditional watermarking under modern deep learning settings to tackle the challenge. We show that when a user watermarks images using a specialized linear color transformation, a neural network classifier will be imprinted with the signature so that a third-party arbitrator can verify the potentially unauthorized usage of the user data by inferring the watermark signature from the neural network. We also discuss what watermarking properties and signature spaces make the arbitrator's verification convincing. To our best knowledge, this work is the first to protect an individual user's data ownership from unauthorized use in training neural networks.Comment: Accepted to ECCV 202

High capacity data embedding schemes for digital media

High capacity image data hiding methods and robust high capacity digital audio watermarking algorithms are studied in this thesis. The main results of this work are the development of novel algorithms with state-of-the-art performance, high capacity and transparency for image data hiding and robustness, high capacity and low distortion for audio watermarking.En esta tesis se estudian y proponen diversos métodos de data hiding de imágenes y watermarking de audio de alta capacidad. Los principales resultados de este trabajo consisten en la publicación de varios algoritmos novedosos con rendimiento a la altura de los mejores métodos del estado del arte, alta capacidad y transparencia, en el caso de data hiding de imágenes, y robustez, alta capacidad y baja distorsión para el watermarking de audio.En aquesta tesi s'estudien i es proposen diversos mètodes de data hiding d'imatges i watermarking d'àudio d'alta capacitat. Els resultats principals d'aquest treball consisteixen en la publicació de diversos algorismes nous amb rendiment a l'alçada dels millors mètodes de l'estat de l'art, alta capacitat i transparència, en el cas de data hiding d'imatges, i robustesa, alta capacitat i baixa distorsió per al watermarking d'àudio.Societat de la informació i el coneixemen

A Systematic Review on Image Data Protection Methods

Securing data is the main goal of any data security system (DSS). Valuable data must be protected all the time and stored in a very highly secure data storage device. This need has become more critical due to the continuous growth of data size.  Furthermore, non-text data in the form of images, audio, and videos can now be transferred and processed easily and thus become part of sensitive data that needs to be protected. Since there is a need to secure and protect data in any form in order to keep them private and valid, it is expected that there would be many attempts already that have been proposed in the literature for this purpose. This paper reviews a group of these proposed strategies and methods that have been applied to different kinds of DSSs. Challenges and future trends of DSSs are also discussed. A number of main findings are grouped and organized as follows: (1) there are many different kinds of security techniques, each of which offers varying degrees of performance in terms of the amount of data and information that can be managed securely, (2) depending on the architecture of the proposed method, the tactics or strategies of the security system, the kinds of DSSs, as well as a few other factors, some methods are more appropriate for the storage of certain categories of data than others

I Rest My Case! The Possibilities and Limitations of Blockchain-Based IP Protection

We have identified, mapped and discussed existing research on Blockchain-based solutions for intellectual property (IP) protection, an investigation that emerged from a case in antibody production for scientific and medical applications. To that end, we have performed a systematic literature review and created an instrument that classifies the contributions according to the materiality of the object they protect (from immaterial to physical), the type of protection (authorship notarization or prevention of illegal use) and the type of research (conceptual or empirical). Our results can be used to understand which avenues to pursue in the effort to create a new generation of more effective technology-assisted IP protection systems, a priority for 152 signatory countries of the patent cooperation treaty

New Digital Audio Watermarking Algorithms for Copyright Protection

This thesis investigates the development of digital audio watermarking in addressing issues such as copyright protection. Over the past two decades, many digital watermarking algorithms have been developed, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. The main aim of this thesis was to develop a new watermarking algorithm within an existing Fast Fourier Transform framework. This resulted in the development of a Complex Spectrum Phase Evolution based watermarking algorithm. In this new implementation, the embedding positions were generated dynamically thereby rendering it more difficult for an attacker to remove, and watermark information was embedded by manipulation of the spectral components in the time domain thereby reducing any audible distortion. Further improvements were attained when the embedding criteria was based on bin location comparison instead of magnitude, thereby rendering it more robust against those attacks that interfere with the spectral magnitudes. However, it was discovered that this new audio watermarking algorithm has some disadvantages such as a relatively low capacity and a non-consistent robustness for different audio files. Therefore, a further aim of this thesis was to improve the algorithm from a different perspective. Improvements were investigated using an Singular Value Decomposition framework wherein a novel observation was discovered. Furthermore, a psychoacoustic model was incorporated to suppress any audible distortion. This resulted in a watermarking algorithm which achieved a higher capacity and a more consistent robustness. The overall result was that two new digital audio watermarking algorithms were developed which were complementary in their performance thereby opening more opportunities for further research

DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT AND CANADIAN PRIVACY: ALTERNATIVES FOR DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT IMPLEMENTATION IN CANADA

Canada has signed, but not ratified, either the World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty (WCT) or the World Intellectual Property Organization Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT). This thesis examines the current state of privacy and personal data protection law if Digital Rights Management system technologies were legally implemented today in Canada, in compliance with these treaties. This study emphasises in two jurisdictions: Federal and Ontario. It will be demonstrated that functionalities present in Digital Rights Management, like fingerprinting, watermarking and authentication technologies, violate privacy and personal data protection law. The idea to issue a number of alternatives for implementation of Digital Rights Management in the legal and technological fields that could enhance privacy and personal data protection. This thesis concludes that there are alternatives for implementation of Digital Rights Management in Canada that, do not require a direct implementation of the WCT and the WPPT