Developer builds image copy-detection tool using search engines instead of web crawling

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Software developer Harman Singh built Sealify in 2023, a copy-detection tool that identifies edited or redistributed versions of images and videos across the web without running its own crawler. Instead of indexing the web independently, Sealify uses existing reverse image search from Google, Bing, and Yandex as a broad first stage, then applies local verification on a single Mac mini to filter out false matches. The approach was driven by both practical and environmental concerns, as building a proprietary web index requires continuous crawling, large-scale storage, and significant energy and water consumption. Singh notes that data centers consumed roughly 66 billion liters of water in the US alone in 2023, and that duplicating existing infrastructure produces no new value. By reusing indexes that already exist, Sealify aims to deliver accurate copy detection while avoiding the hardware, energy, and e-waste costs of a redundant system.

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