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October 24, 2008

Strange But True!

Q. Seeing may be believing, but when SHOULDN'T it be?

A. History is riddled with photographic tamperings, as by Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Mao, Brezhnev — from creating more heroic-looking poses to erasing enemies or bottles of beer, says Hany Farid in Scientific American magazine. Modern computers and commercial software have made manipulation of photos easier than ever and harder to detect, spawning the new field of “digital image forensics.” In addition to business forgeries, fake images can sway public opinion, as when a 2004 faux newspaper clipping distributed on the Internet purportedly showed John Kerry on stage with Jane Fonda at a Vietnam War protest. A Los Angeles Times editor was fired in 2003 after a photo of his from Iraq was shown to be a composite of elements from two photos. In 1994, an altered mug shot of O.J. Simpson appeared as an infamous newsmagazine cover.


 
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