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150 Filmmakers and Photojournalists Call On Nikon, Sony, and Canon To Build in Encryption (zdnet.com)
Some of the world's leading photojournalists and filmmakers are calling on the manufacturers of the cameras they use to add encryption to their products, as the number of threats they face from having their devices seized is "literally too high to count." From a ZDNet report: Over 150 documentary makers and reporters signed an open letter by the Freedom of the Press Foundation, asking for camera makers -- including Nikon, Sony, and Canon -- to ensure that their work is protected while often "attempting to uncover wrongdoing in the interests of justice." "Documentary filmmakers and photojournalists work in some of the most dangerous parts of the world, often risking their lives to get footage of newsworthy events to the public," said Trevor Timm, the foundation's executive director. But, he said, "they face a variety of threats from border security guards, local police, intelligence agents, terrorists, and criminals when attempting to safely return their footage so that it can be edited and published." The filmmakers say that camera security has lagged behind the rest of the industry, leaving their work "dangerously vulnerable."
Cameras use ASIC chips. The "firmware" in question is simply there to tell the ASIC which functions to enable/disable from what is already available. Encryption would break the existing data chain of sensor > ASIC > storage. It would then need to go sensor > ASIC > CPU > storage. Think of the amount of CPU power required to handle data encryption in the first place, these CPUs simply could not keep up. So to add the functionality of encryption, it would have to be implemented in a new generation of their ASIC image processors.
I'm not sure these guys understand what'll happen if there's in-camera encryption. I can see at least two possible outcomes:
1. The device is encrypted, so the authorities just take and destroy it
2. The device is encrypted, so the authorities just take and destroy it, and kill the jouro when they refuse to unlock it.
I'm not sure either of these are really want the person in question wants. I can think of other issues (and you can too), but encrypting the device is probably not the right answer.