Legal Definitions - digital fingerprinting

Digital fingerprinting is a type of steganography, which is a way of hiding one piece of information inside another. With digital fingerprinting, information is embedded or encoded into a digital file, such as an audio or visual file, without changing the quality of the file. This makes it difficult to remove the embedded information without altering the original file.

For example, a copyright or trademark tag can be hidden in every fragment of a digital work, making it almost impossible to remove or disassociate from the original work. This helps protect the intellectual property of the creator or owner of the digital work.

Another example is digital watermarking, which is a type of digital fingerprinting that adds a visible or invisible mark to a digital image or document. This mark can contain information about the creator or owner of the work, as well as copyright or trademark information.

Overall, digital fingerprinting is a way to protect digital works and ensure that they are not used without permission or proper attribution.