Photograph Ownership and Authorization using Blockchain

The number of photographs taken is increasing exponentially each year. This includes the photographs captured by professional as well as non-professional personnel. The ease in accessibility of these work of art over the internet has increased unauthorized use of owner's property without handing them their deserved credit. In addition, the process to take the authorization over the use of the photograph from the respective owner takes a large amount of time as well as money. One of the solutions to this problem is the use of distributed ledger technology known as ‘Blockchain’ in order to keep the decentralized record of ownership. In addition, storing the photograph itself on the decentralized platform can make it more secure. Furthermore, designing a smart contract in which the user and owner can agree on the use of the owner's property can address the problem of unauthorized use. This paper describes the integration of blockchain, distributed storage, and peer-to-peer communication in order to solve the current problem of handling photograph ownership and authorization. Ethereum blockchain is implemented to achieve secure transaction and handling functionality regarding authorization with the help of smart contracts that runs on the blockchain. As the storage layer, the paper discusses the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) as a distributed database with which the photographs can be stored such that decentralization can be achieved. Only after the verifying the similar image does not exist on the system the image is stored in IPFS. The existence of a duplicate image is done with the implementation of dHash algorithm and hamming distance. Whisper protocol allows the owner of the photograph and user on the Ethereum blockchain to leverage peer-to-peer communication to reach a consensus.