payload the payload includes a network address or a pointer that points to an original unwatermarked image the original unwatermarked image is obtained with the address or pointer in another implementation the digital watermark or a registry record pointed to by the digital watermark includes watermark embedding details e g watermark gain watermark embedding protocol tiling data and or perceptual masking etc etc which will allow a watermark remover module to remove the embedded digital watermark the watermark is decoded to obtain the identifier the identifier is then used to instruct the watermark embedding information to instruct the removal module in removing the digital watermark in some alternative implementations the registry or other auditing module records image manipulation if any which occur as the image is handled and analyzed the manipulation data provides clues as to how the original data was manipulated thus allowing the manipulation to be reversed the embedding information and optionally manipulation information helps facilitate the near perfect removal of the watermark in an alternative implementation the watermark is embedded according to a predetermined rule or protocol and the removal module removes the watermark according to the predetermined rule or protocol in other cases we employ a so called u201c reversible u201d watermarking technique as e g discussed in assignee 39 s u s patent application ser nos 10 319 404 published as us 2003 0149879 a1 10 319 380 published as us 2003 0179900 a1 and pct application no pct us02 40162 published as wo 03 055130 as indicated the.