New technologies are stopping thieves and counterfeiters

The new tools of the authorities make it possible to fight art crimes

The art market is a multi-billion dollar industry that must prevent the action of thieves and counterfeiters by all means.

Police, security forces, museums and collectors must therefore keep abreast of the latest developments in technology and its means, which can help thwart art crimes.

Among the technological innovations that have emerged in support of the security sector for art is the blockchain: useful for the authentication of digital works of art.

Platforms based on blockchain technology protect data relating to works, making counterfeiting much more difficult for counterfeiters.

After the looting of Iraqi museums during the US invasion of 2003, the British company SmartWater, which provides security systems to companies and historic sites, has developed a technology to safeguard Iraqi museums.

These are invisible liquids to be applied to works of art. They are encoded with data relating to the stolen goods and are only shown in ultraviolet light.

Today, nearly 300,000 works of art in Baghdad’s Iraq Museum and Sulaimani’s Slemani Museum have been treated with liquid, and SmartWater aims to extend to more museums in the Middle East.

Interpol has launched a free app, ID-Art, which allows gallery owners and collectors to create their own inventory of works of art in case of theft.

Among the innovative means of managing and protecting works of art is Art Rights, which helps protect works, physical or digital, by offering the possibility of creating a complete and professional digital archive through the ART MANAGER service.

The Art Rights management software allows you to manage the works through Blockchain technology, to create and keep the History always updated.

With an annual subscription, each artist will be able to create their own archive in total safety: in fact, no information or document will ever be made public, unless shared by the user himself with temporary permissions.

The Artist can enter all the works created, adding information and creating Certificates of Authenticity at no additional cost.

Art Rights thus offers the Artist, the Collector and the Professional the possibility to create their own Passport of the work of art, thanks to the Art Rights Certificate in which it is possible to enter all the information on the object, from the value handling, without forgetting the Condition Report and the many other activities that are part of the life of the work.

Thanks to the complete and always up-to-date Digital Archive, it is thus possible to digitize information on one’s works, manage, protect and enhance them with Art Rights.