How much can ICC profile identify (unique device?)

[jmcttr]

I saw a discussion online about ICC profiles where someone said it could be used to identify the unique (apple) device used. How is this possible and does anyone know what would that mean?

Would you be able to connect a picture taken to a specific iPhone based on the ICC profile? And how would that even be done?

[Phil Harvey]

Using ExifTool to look at the ProfileCopyright tag of a bunch of samples here from a wide range of manufacturers, I find the following values:

Code Select Expand

(c) 2000 Adobe Systems Inc.
(c) 2002 Adobe Systems Inc.
Brian Levin 2016, All Rights Reserved
Copyright (c) 1998 Hewlett-Packard Company
Copyright (c) 1998 Hewlett-Packard Company - Modified by ACE
Copyright (c) 1998 Hewlett-Packard Company Modified using Adobe Gamma
Copyright (c) 2001 Hewlett-Packard Company
Copyright (c) 2003 Bruce Justin Lindbloom. All Rights Reserved. <http://www.brucelindbloom.com>
Copyright (c) 2003, Canon Inc.  All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. The profile is provided for use as a test file and AS IS without warranty of any kind.  The entire risk as to the results and performance of the profile is assumed by user.  Microsoft disclaims all warranties, either express, implied or statutory, including but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, and warranties of title and noninfringement, with respect to the profile. All other rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 2016 Google Inc.
Copyright (c) 95 Agfa-Gevaert NV, Created by FotoTune 2.0
Copyright (c) Eastman Kodak Company, 1999, all rights reserved.
Copyright (c) Ichikawa Soft Laboratory
Copyright (c) SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION 2000 - 2006. All rights reserved.
Copyright 1999 Adobe Systems Incorporated
Copyright 2000 Adobe Systems Incorporated
Copyright 2000 Adobe Systems, Inc.
Copyright 2001 EKC-RICC Reference
Copyright 2001 Minolta Co.,Ltd.
Copyright 2002 - 2003 Apple Computer Inc., all rights reserved.
Copyright 2003 Apple Computer Inc., all rights reserved.
Copyright 2003 by Creo, Leaf, all rights reserved.
Copyright 2003, Etcetera, etcetera - http://www.ectetera.cc - mailto:etc.etc@online.no
Copyright 2007 Adobe Systems Incorporated
Copyright 2007 Adobe Systems Incorporated. For licensing terms and conditions, see http://www.adobe.com/products/eulas/
Copyright 2007 Adobe Systems, Inc.
Copyright 2007 Apple Inc., all rights reserved.
Copyright 2008 Adobe Systems, Inc.
Copyright 2011 Adobe Systems, Inc.
Copyright 2011 International Color Consortium
Copyright 2015 International Color Consortium
Copyright Apple Computer, Inc., 2002
Copyright Apple Computer, Inc., 2003
Copyright Apple Inc., 2015
Copyright Apple Inc., 2017
Copyright CANON INC. 2003 All Rights Reserved
Copyright Hewlett Packard, 2004
Copyright International Color Consortium, 2009
Copyright Nokia Corporation 2014
Copyright X-Rite, Inc. This profile is made available by IDEAlliance, with permission of X-Rite, Inc., and may be used, embedded, exchanged, included in commercial software and shared without restriction.  It may not be altered without written permission of IDEAlliance except for single site use.
Copyright by LaserSoft Imaging AG
EXIF:ProfileCopyright
Nikon Corporation 2002
Nikon Inc. & Nikon Corporation 2001
Nikon Inc. & Nikon Corporation 2002
Nikon Inc. & Nikon Corporation 2009
Public Domain
cprt
For example, one may presume that Apple products tend to use Apple-copyrighted profiles, so that may give a hint about the manufacturer, but I think that a number of other makes also use Apple profiles.

- Phil

[jmcttr]

Using ExifTool to look at the ProfileCopyright tag of a bunch of samples here from a wide range of manufacturers, I find the following values:

Code Select Expand

(c) 2000 Adobe Systems Inc.
(c) 2002 Adobe Systems Inc.
Brian Levin 2016, All Rights Reserved
Copyright (c) 1998 Hewlett-Packard Company
Copyright (c) 1998 Hewlett-Packard Company - Modified by ACE
Copyright (c) 1998 Hewlett-Packard Company Modified using Adobe Gamma
Copyright (c) 2001 Hewlett-Packard Company
Copyright (c) 2003 Bruce Justin Lindbloom. All Rights Reserved. <http://www.brucelindbloom.com>
Copyright (c) 2003, Canon Inc.  All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. The profile is provided for use as a test file and AS IS without warranty of any kind.  The entire risk as to the results and performance of the profile is assumed by user.  Microsoft disclaims all warranties, either express, implied or statutory, including but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, and warranties of title and noninfringement, with respect to the profile. All other rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 2016 Google Inc.
Copyright (c) 95 Agfa-Gevaert NV, Created by FotoTune 2.0
Copyright (c) Eastman Kodak Company, 1999, all rights reserved.
Copyright (c) Ichikawa Soft Laboratory
Copyright (c) SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION 2000 - 2006. All rights reserved.
Copyright 1999 Adobe Systems Incorporated
Copyright 2000 Adobe Systems Incorporated
Copyright 2000 Adobe Systems, Inc.
Copyright 2001 EKC-RICC Reference
Copyright 2001 Minolta Co.,Ltd.
Copyright 2002 - 2003 Apple Computer Inc., all rights reserved.
Copyright 2003 Apple Computer Inc., all rights reserved.
Copyright 2003 by Creo, Leaf, all rights reserved.
Copyright 2003, Etcetera, etcetera - http://www.ectetera.cc - mailto:etc.etc@online.no
Copyright 2007 Adobe Systems Incorporated
Copyright 2007 Adobe Systems Incorporated. For licensing terms and conditions, see http://www.adobe.com/products/eulas/
Copyright 2007 Adobe Systems, Inc.
Copyright 2007 Apple Inc., all rights reserved.
Copyright 2008 Adobe Systems, Inc.
Copyright 2011 Adobe Systems, Inc.
Copyright 2011 International Color Consortium
Copyright 2015 International Color Consortium
Copyright Apple Computer, Inc., 2002
Copyright Apple Computer, Inc., 2003
Copyright Apple Inc., 2015
Copyright Apple Inc., 2017
Copyright CANON INC. 2003 All Rights Reserved
Copyright Hewlett Packard, 2004
Copyright International Color Consortium, 2009
Copyright Nokia Corporation 2014
Copyright X-Rite, Inc. This profile is made available by IDEAlliance, with permission of X-Rite, Inc., and may be used, embedded, exchanged, included in commercial software and shared without restriction.  It may not be altered without written permission of IDEAlliance except for single site use.
Copyright by LaserSoft Imaging AG
EXIF:ProfileCopyright
Nikon Corporation 2002
Nikon Inc. & Nikon Corporation 2001
Nikon Inc. & Nikon Corporation 2002
Nikon Inc. & Nikon Corporation 2009
Public Domain
cprt
For example, one may presume that Apple products tend to use Apple-copyrighted profiles, so that may give a hint about the manufacturer, but I think that a number of other makes also use Apple profiles.

- Phil

Ah, I see thanks Phil! I'm still learning how to do all this myself.

Nothing incriminating to the users privacy then I presume

[Hubert]

Nothing incriminating to the users privacy then I presume

I've just checked the ICC profile ids of .heic images taken with two different iPhone 12 Minis.

They are identical: ecfda38e388547c36db4bd4f7ada182f

They may well be device-specific, but there's nothing to identify the individual user.