As I noted in my original message, signatures on pictures are not intended to prevent doctoring, but to show where the doctoring was done. A signature is indeed like an affidavat; it associates the reputation of the signatory party with the picture and provides a back-trace of the flow of the bits and sites of possible malfeasance. The idea is that if I have a picture I think is good and true and honest I want to be able to sign it in such a way that if it appears later in doctored form I can prove that those picture bits are NOT mine. If someone wants to make an honest change to a photo (like cropping to fit on a printed page), he has to sign that change. It's protection for photographers, essentially, and for editors. This way when someone complains "Hey! Cropping me out of that picture totally changes its meaning!" I can show that the complainer was in fact in the picture I took. --Alan Wexelblat, Reality Hacker, Author, and Cyberspace Bard Media Lab - Advanced Human Interface Group wex@media.mit.edu Voice: 617-258-9168 Page: 617-945-1842 an53607@anon.penet.fi The belief that enhanced understanding will necessarily stir a nation to action is one of mankind's oldest illusions.