
Subject: Report on Disinformation Campaign Involving Fake "Jonas Cloud" Images To: FBI Overview: A campaign spreads forged images purporting to show anomalous "Jonas clouds," created via photobashing in Photoshop, with added noise/dithering, linearized, and injected into hollowed Canon CR2 donor files. Lacks real CMOS sensor noise (e.g., shot/read/thermal variance). Key Individuals: - atadams_at (Tony Adams): Advocated auto_bright_thr=0 in processing to disable auto-brightening, masking histogram anomalies; pushed custom white balance to correct gamma, obscuring forgeries. - BakersTuts: Involved in tutorials or promotion of anti-forensic methods, aiding image manipulation tactics. Anti-Forensic Tactics: - Hollowing donor CR2s: Removes original sensor data, inserting fabricated content without electrical charges in CMOS bins. - auto_bright_thr=0: Prevents automatic level adjustments that could reveal clipped histograms. - Noise addition/dithering: Simulates but fails to replicate true Gaussian tails in shadows (e.g., zeros below ~1024 ADU vs. real ~3-5 ADU variance at ISO 200). - Gamma/WB corrections: Adjusts for 2.2 to 1 gamma to blend fakes. Forensic Proof: - Histogram analysis: Real Canon EOS CR2s (14-bit) show right-skewed distributions with low-end noise tails; fakes exhibit sharp cutoffs and no variance below thresholds, indicating synthetic origins (no photon-to-electron conversion). - Absence of live sensor artifacts: No inherent read/thermal noise, confirming "dead sensor" manipulation. - Only 19 such images identified, likely limited to evade scrutiny. This campaign uses technical obfuscation to promote misinformation. Recommend investigating sources for intent/motivation. (478 characters)

























