Ching-Yung Lin, 31, and associate professor Shih-Fu Chang, 38, have created what is known as a digital "watermark" computer program, which is named after the watermarks hidden within U.S. currency to prevent counterfeiting. Acting similarly to these monetary watermarks, a digital watermark is designed to shield images shown on the Internet or sent via e-mail from would-be thieves and duplicators.

Lin’s and Chang’s watermark program, the Self-Authentication Replication Images (SARI) program, buries copyright information within the data of an image. This watermark, which is invisible to the human eye, allows users to prove ownership of a photo.

But Lin’s and Chang’s SARI program goes beyond merely hiding a copyright in plain sight, which watermark programs have been doing for years. SARI can detect tampering on an image.

"If you make a malicious attack to the content [of an image], the watermark will be destroyed," Chang says. "If you try to change somebody's face to another person's body or if you change the check amount from $100 to $1,000, you can detect those changes."

SARI does allow certain alterations to an image. Its watermark is "semi-fragile," meaning it allows certain changes, like when a photographer wants to touch up a photo.

Another new and unique feature of SARI is its recovery program. SARI can not only detect where an image has been manipulated, but it can return the photo to its original form.

"It’s like a gecko recovering its cut tail," Lin says.

Robust: These watermarks simply copyright an image and will not detect manipulation or tampering.

Semi-fragile: These watermarks, like SARI, are able to withstand certain alterations such as compression -- the shrinking of an image file to take up less computer memory. However, the semi-fragile mark can detect major changes that distort the photo’s fundamental image.

Fragile: These are super-sensitive watermarks designed to fall apart at the slightest change in an image.