# Soft Redaction of Image Provenance via Zero-Knowledge Proofs

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.07063 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.07063/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 16 of its 36 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 7 Aug 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 16 of 16)

- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [Emerging Properties in Self-Supervised Vision Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.14294/) (2021)
- [FaceNet: A Unified Embedding for Face Recognition and Clustering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1503.03832/) (2015)
- [AdaFace: Quality Adaptive Margin for Face Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.00964/) (2022)
- [A Self-Supervised Descriptor for Image Copy Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.10261/) (2022)
- [ElasticFace: Elastic Margin Loss for Deep Face Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.09416/) (2021)
- [EKILA: Synthetic Media Provenance and Attribution for Generative Art](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.04639/) (2023)
- [AMP: Authentication of Media via Provenance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2001.07886/) (2020)
- [ARCHANGEL: Trusted Archives of Digital Public Documents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.08342/) (2018)
- [ARCHANGEL: Tamper-proofing Video Archives using Temporal Content Hashes on the Blockchain](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.12059/) (2019)
- [DECORAIT -- DECentralized Opt-in/out Registry for AI Training](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.14400/) (2023)
- [ZK-IMG: Attested Images via Zero-Knowledge Proofs to Fight Disinformation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.04775/) (2022)
- [Content ARCs: Decentralized Content Rights in the Age of Generative AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.14519/) (2025)
- [Zero-Knowledge Location Privacy via Accurate Floating-Point SNARKs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.14983/) (2024)
- [Decentralized Trusted Timestamping using the Crypto Currency Bitcoin](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1502.04015/) (2015)
- [SImProv: Scalable Image Provenance Framework for Robust Content Attribution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.14245/) (2022)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Content provenance standards, such as C2PA, are increasingly used to attach signed records of origin, editing history, and rights to digital images. However, provenance transparency can conflict with privacy -- assertions that strengthen trust in an image may also reveal sensitive information about the creator or capture context. We propose soft redaction for image provenance: a mechanism that replaces sensitive provenance assertions with zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) of selected properties over hidden data. Our work focuses on distance proofs. We first show how location assertions can support proofs of proximity to a public reference point, using Chebyshev polynomial approximations within the ZKP proof circuit. We then extend the approach to L2 distance proofs over biometric embeddings, enabling privacy-preserving claims related to likeness to help enforce personality rights with images. Finally, we apply the same distance-proof construction to perceptual hashes (visual fingerprints), supporting an anti-spoofing use case in watermark-based recovery of stripped provenance metadata. Our results demonstrate that ZKPs over image provenance can provide practical soft-redaction capabilities, compatible with C2PA, that may be constructed in seconds and verified in milliseconds.