In the days of old, deep in the dredges of the "Do the Bartman" VHS, there was a trailer. In partnership with Chicken Tonight, Butterfinger, and CC Lemon, the early 90s execs of Fox and Toho made an animated short. An attempt to appeal to American consumers without having to spend a lot of money. Until a changing of the guard decided the kids needed more Poochie and it was lost...until today. -- Bartkira is an animated parody mash-up of The Simpsons and Akira. Based on an idea by Ryan Humphrey articulated through comics, the concept was expanded with the Bartkira project, a comic collaboration of Simpsons fans, curated by James Harvey. In association with the comic, Moon Animate Make-Up producer Kaitlin Sullivan pitched the idea of an animated trailer to match and with the work of over fifty artists, produced the Bartkira animated trailer. It is in no way officially associated with Fox Animation, Toho, or any other legal properties that own the rights to The Simpsons and Akira. We are a bunch of fans who did this for free and are profiting in no way off of this other than having a larf. For more information on Bartkira, you can visit these sites: bartkira.com/ bartkira.tumblr.com/ bartkiraroadshow.tumblr.com/Cast: Kaitlin SullivanTags: bartkira, animation, animation collaboration, the simpsons, akira, bart simpson and milhouse

Gerard Baden-Clay

Mr Baden-Clay's lawyers say he is devastated and will vigorously defend the charge.

— ABC Online, 13 June, 2012

The ABC's lawyers insisted on pixelating Mr Baden-Clay's image after he was charged with murder, when many other media outlets didn't. But if you sincerely want to protect someone's identity, that device won't wash any more.

Welcome to Media Watch, I'm Jonathan Holmes.

First tonight, an issue that is going to force media companies in Australia, and perhaps worldwide, to change the way they do things.

About a year ago, Google introduced a new feature to their desktop search engine. They called it Search by Image. And it sounded harmless enough...

Wouldn't it be great if you could use an image to start your search on Google? Now you can, with Search by Image. Whether your image is from the web, or your last vacation. You can search places, art, and even mysterious creatures, by just one picture.

—google.com/insidesearch

Basically, you just drag an image from the web, drop it into Google Images, and it will do its best to identify it. And its best is very good indeed.

When the tool first came out, a few people pointed out how these reverse image search engines - and Google's isn't the only one - could be useful to journalists.

For example, Briton Paul Bradshaw in his

ONLINE JOURNALISM BLOG

The service should be particularly useful to journalists seeking to verify or debunk images they're not sure about.

— Online Journalism Blog, 15th June, 2011

Read Paul Bradshaw’s blog

Bradshaw gave this example:

OSAMA BIN LADEN IS DEAD

— Online Journalism Blog, 2nd May, 2011

This gruesome image was used by many mainstream media outlets on the day Bin Laden was killed. But, said Bradshaw...

It took me all of 10 seconds to verify that it is a fake - by using TinEye to find other instances of the image,

— Not the Online Journalism Blog, 2nd May, 2011

Read Paul Bradshaw’s blog

Tin Eye is another reverse image search engine - but it's nothing like as widely used as Google, and it's not as powerful either.

And because of that, Google's Search by Image has a much more serious downside for the media: it makes this convention almost meaningless...

Australian man Paul 'Doug' Peters arrested...over Madeleine Pulver collar bomb hoax

— Telegraph Online, 16th August, 2011

That was in Sydney's Daily Telegraph last August. This was in the Sydney Morning Herald...

Arrested...Paul "Doug" Peters. The image has been pixelated for legal reasons.

— Sydney Morning Herald, 16th August, 2011

A bit of a formality. Peters's image had been all over the papers for days.

But he'd just been charged, so to publish his picture from then until his trial might have been in contempt of court.

But anyone who wanted to could have taken either of those online stories... clicked on the image...dragged it into Google Images...and up would have popped numerous unpixelated images of Peters, complete with texts identifying him.

In that example, the media were doing the minimum to stay within the law.

But sometimes they genuinely want to conceal someone's identity.

We were tipped off to this problem by a couple of viewers who'd read a story last week in The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald online.

Both websites published a pixelated image of someone who'd given them information, but who didn't want to be identified.

But it took our tipsters just seconds to find the source's identity using Google's Search by Image.

As one of them said, the informant is...

...not exactly Deep Throat, but it nevertheless seems anyone who has photos online with their real name attached ... ought nowadays think twice before speaking to the media "anonymously"

— Media Watch Tipster, 3rd July, 2012

We sent some questions to Darren Burden, National Editor-in-Chief of Metro Fairfax Media. He was alarmed...

This is a search feature which has some serious implications for the digital news industry and pixelation techniques.

— Darren Burden, Editor in Chief, Metro Fairfax, 5th July, 2012

Read Darren Burden’s response to Media Watch’s questions

And in a later email...

I would think that barely any publisher know(s) about this worldwide - it was the first time I had seen this issue.

— Darren Burden, Editor in Chief, Metro Fairfax, 6th July, 2012

Google's algorithms are amazingly powerful. Its image search doesn't rely on the metadata - the invisible coded tags that are attached to most images on the web. And it works with very little visual information.

For example, here's a heavily pixelated image of me, stripped of metadata. There's not much background to go on. But Google effortlessly matches it to the picture on the Media Watch website - and up pops my name and biography.

We've tried the technique on pixelated pictures of all kinds of people whom media outlets - including Media Watch - have agreed not to identify.

So long as the same or a similar picture has appeared somewhere on the publicly-accessible internet before, Google will find it, along with any information that might have gone with it.

So what are the consequences for the media? Darren Burden tells us that as far as Fairfax Media is concerned...

Fairfax has added processes to check this, but I wonder how much responsibility Google should also take?

— Darren Burden, Editor in Chief, Metro Fairfax, 9th July, 2012

The answer to that, it seems, is none. We asked Google to comment.

Our question was sent to Google HQ in Mountain View, California. And what we got back was regurgitated PR guff

Think about all those vacation photos you have of buildings or monuments whose name you can't remember when you get home...

— Google spokesperson, 9th July, 2012

Read Google’s response to Media Watch’s questions

Gee, that's helpful, isn't it?

The courts and the mainstream media will have to work out what all this means for cases where the law is involved.

But the media is now on notice: if it really wants to conceal someone's identity, it can't just lightly pixelate a picture that's already appeared anywhere on the web.

Nicolas Cage is one of the most versatile actors of all time.Nicolas Cage moves fruit to mouth with imperceptible motion.Nicolas Cage doesn’t usually like to admit his feelings.Nicolas Cage’s face hand painted on a denim jacket.Nicolas Cage was attractive in the 1980s.Nicolas Cage meant to steal the Declaration of Independence, But instead he stole her heart.Nicolas Cage can do anything you can do better.Nicolas Cage surfs with the emotions of others.Nicolas Cage has a way with words.YESTERDAY, I REPLACED ALL OF OUR FAMILY PHOTOS WITH NICOLAS CAGE’S FACE, AND MY PARENTS STILL HAVEN’T NOTICED.Keep Calm And Imagine Nicolas Cage Saying : “Mumbo Jumbo.”Nicolas Cage leaps out, cackling and howling at the moon.Nicolas Cage texts with no spaces.Nicolas Cage sings “Love Shack” by the B-52’s.Nicolas Cage’s Face on Every Character in ‘The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask’.Nicolas Cage is looking at himself in a mirror right now.Nicolas Cage owns a 9-foot-tall pyramid in New Orleans and plans to be buried in it. But instead he stole her heart.Nicolas Cage stars as Nicolas Cage in: Nicolas Cage.Nicolas Cage smells like new born baby birds.Find out how Nicolas Cage handles his relationships and test what you and Nicolas Cage have going in love, marriage, friendship, partnership, dating and more.Sometimes at parties, two or more people ask Nicolas Cage questions at the same time.Nicolas Cage meets Shia Labeouf at the Oscars when competing in the same category. Shia Labeouf teaches Nicolas Cage how to ‘feel’.Nicolas Cage gets more than he bargained for during the new moon.Nicolas Cage sponsored by Crocs on Internet Explorer.Nicolas Cage isn’t affected by water, which shouldn’t be much of a surprise, since he isn’t a normal cat.Nicolas Cage Performs John Cage’s Silent Masterpiece, “4:33”.Nicolas Cage became the first person to ever check his email without a computer, But instead he stole her heart.Nicolas Cage is switching on the Christmas lights in Bath.“Some religious extremists speculate Nicolas Cage’s head is a hollow vessel that angels will occupy on Judgment Day.”Please don’t masturbate, Nicolas cage.Nicolas cage thinks YOU are a terrible actor.Nicolas Cage’s condition is caused by two magnetic poles.Nicolas Cage is on a plane full of convicts.Nicolas Cage developed his own acting method, and it’s called Nouveau Shamanic.Nicolas Cage rode a centaur through a local Woolworths demanding ‘all the midget gems’.Nicolas Cage is inspired by his pet cobra.Nicolas Cage Pisses Fire.Nicolas Cage is the pinnacle of all human achievement.Nicolas Cage was temporary President of Angola for six months in 1997.Nicolas Cage is at home, reading a new script and drinking coffee, when he, after a short period of time and a couple of sudden happenings, finds himself in Equestria, whereupon he is arrested. But instead he stole her heart.Tonight: Nicolas Cage WILL be here.When I die, throw pictures of Nicolas Cage into my grave.

The missile rushing over your head was processed through an Instagram filter just hours previously. As you see it pass out of sight behind the apartment block opposite some young conscript is preparing for video footage of it to be compressed and uploaded to YouTube before the hour is out. By nightfall tonight that explosion which just shook your neighborhood, in one of the most densely populated areas on earth, will have been liked over 8,000 times on Facebook. Welcome to Gaza City.