Anonymous Video Testimony

[Dopopopolis]

In the instance of a whistleblower releasing video testimony, whom didnt want to be traced, what sort of traceable information is contained within certain filetypes (assuming the source is miniDV)? Is this information usually part of the codec or the container? Do editing/composition programs (adobe for instance) leave their mark on export files? What about encoders?

Given its probably impractical to give a definite answer given the sheer number of software combinations, what tools are there to remove this information?

[Adub]

Well, mostly encoder's just leave behind the settings used to compress the video, and that is it. It may have time stamps for the creation time and date, but other than that there is not personally identifiable information. Atleast, not that I am aware of.

If this were the case, then piracy would be a much smaller problem.

[dat720]

There really isn't anythign useful in the meta data of a video to trace who created it or who uploaded it.

Here is a Example of the sort of information that mediainfo can pull from video files:
General
Complete name : G:\The Fifth Element.mkv
Format : Matroska
File size : 7.78 GiB
Duration : 2h 5mn
Overall bit rate : 8845 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2008-08-12 10:50:14
Writing application : mkvmerge v2.2.0 ('Turn It On Again') built on Mar 4 2008 12:58:26
Writing library : libebml v0.7.7 + libmatroska v0.8.1

Video
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 3 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 2h 5mn
Bit rate : 7846 Kbps
Width : 1920 pixels
Height : 800 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16/9
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Title : AVC/h.264 1080P
Writing library : x264 core 59 r818 d4b7d2b
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=6 / brdo=1 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / chroma_qp_offset=0 / threads=4 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / mbaff=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=1 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / wpredb=1 / bime=1 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40(pre) / rc=crf / crf=22.0 / rceq='blurCplx^(1-qComp)' / qcomp=1.00 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30 / aq=2:1.00
Language : English

Audio
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 2h 5mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 640 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Rear: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Title : English 640Kbps AC3
Language : English


There really isn't any info that could identify the person/pc that created the video.

Altho in saying that i don't know about comercial product's, this video was encoded with mencoder, being a opensource product they can't really get upto anything shadey in regards to info gathering.

[mikeytown2]

Once the video is ready, getting it to where it needs to go is the hard part... for that I recommend using TOR, if using the Internet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikileaks).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_(anonymity_network)
It's slow, so make sure you can resume uploads, and I would recommend that the video is compressed with something like X.264 using one of the unrestricted 2 pass presets.
For a whistle blower, driving out of town and calling the local news (TV, Newspaper, PBS) from a payphone, in order to set up a mail drop is another option.


In short make backups of everything, in multiple locations, if you think its that big of a deal. Security boxes, lawyers, holes in the ground, ect... be creative with your backups, and make sure close friends know where to look.

[Dopopopolis]

Thanks!

[JohnnyMalaria]

For DV, there's nothing in the data that identifies the device etc. Just settings for things like white balance, shutter speed, tape speed etc and, of course, time/date. No serial numbers or other unique identifiers.

When converting from DV to another format, all this information is destroyed. When editing and staying within the DV format, it may or may not be destroyed depending upon the software. e.g., parts of a timeline that remain unchanged are passed through with all the information intact with Windows Movie Maker but not Sony Vegas(!) That latter adds new time/date info for the rendering time/date.

[setarip_old]

If NERO is used to burn a DVD, it writes some info about the burner (brand and serial number, I believe) to the burned disc. If I remember correctly, this is only true for one of the two primary media types - either +R or -R...

[Ajax_Undone]

If its just Video on your pc you can use a Hex editor and Mod the time stamp and software used to encode to read as nothing...

[Dopopopolis]

what about ImgBurn, does that write any info about the drive like nero does?

So all i'd have to do to destroy the time/date would be convert it to lagarith and then back to whatever format i want? Does encoding directly to mpeg2 serve the same purpose?

[dat720]

If your so concerned load up some software like AVIDemux onto a USB drive, do your encoding and burning away from home (like at a library or internet cafe etc....) and then hand in the media.