Courts in the future will give less credibility to photos as evidence, due to the growing quality of computer-enhanced images, the president of the world's third-largest producer of image-editing computer software said.
"It would be impossible in the future to take photos or to record voices as evidence in court because you can manipulate any photos or radio (transmissions)," Danielle Liao, president of Ulead Systems Inc., told Kyodo News in an interview Tuesday.
She said digital photography was the most lucrative media of her Taipei-based company, established 11 years ago.
"We will have more customers in smaller companies (that do not have sections to take care of) building up photo-sharing infrastructure," Liao said during a business trip to Tokyo.
Ulead had a 14 percent share of the world's image-editing software market and placed third in a 1999 ranking of such companies by U.S. semiconductor market research firm Dataquest Inc.
Liao expects the number of Internet users in Taiwan, with a population of about 22 million, to grow to as high as 5 million by the end of this year, with cable television helping to drive the expansion.
In Japan, she said, Ulead plans to promote a photo-delivery service at convenience stores. The company has already launched a similar business in Taiwan jointly with the local arm of Konica Corp., a major Japanese camera and film manufacturer.
After connecting with processing outlets and convenience stores via the Internet, "you can pick up photos nearby where you are working and living," she said.