By Kevin McCauley
Agence France-Presse said its recently installed forensic software to detect manipulated images nailed a photo of a purportedly dead Osama bin Laden, first aired in Pakistan and was then used throughout the world, as a hoax.
AFP is the only global news service to use the Tungstene system, according to a statement released today.
The image interpretation software combs though data contained in digital images to detect tampering. Through a suite of filters, it identifies "tell-tale discrepancies in pixels and analyses harmonization n of light and color."
AFP, according to PR staffer Maud Forlini, has a specialist unit in its photo department to trace suspected manipulations of photos. Fingered photos get the Tungstene treatment that was created by former criminology expert Roger Cozien.
AFP has installed the software at its regional editorial centers in Paris, Hong Kong and Washington.
The image of a bloodied man said to be bin Laden has been circulating on the Internet for the past two years.
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