Deepfakes used in the wrong context

Deepfakes have always fascinated me. “Deepfake is a term for videos and presentations enhanced by artificial intelligence and other modern technology to present falsified results.”1(technopedia) The videos where you can see somebody’s face morphed onto another’s body along with the conspiracy videos about deep fakes have been the type of videos I can watch for hours. Deepfakes are But what if deepfakes took a wrong turn?

I have heard about deepfakes being misused in revenge porn-like forms. “Deepfakes are mostly weaponised against women and girls; a dangerous new frontier in so-called “revenge porn”.”2(Melville,K. The insidious rise of deepfake porn videos — and one woman who won’t be silenced) This became more prominent as people began to find videos of themselves on the internet.

“Noelle Martin was an 18-year-old law student when, late one night, she did a reverse Google image search out of curiosity, … Instead, hundreds of explicit images of her face photoshopped onto the bodies of porn actresses engaged in sexual acts flooded her screen.”2 (Melville,K. The insidious rise of deepfake porn videos — and one woman who won’t be silenced)

 

Revenge porn is not a new thing, it has been the ugly underbelly of the internet. The new element is the deepfakes being more accessible to the large public. Deepfakes are not an evil thing on its own. The people misusing them to harm other people are an unfortunate abuse of a new technology. And since it is such a new technology, laws regarding the misuse of deepfakes are not in place yet. Being careful with new technology, especially where everything has a share button and can be spread far and wide, is becoming more crucial.

The good news is that there are laws being placed in regard of deepfakes. “Virginia has officially expanded its nonconsensual pornography ban to include realistic fake videos and photos, including computer-generated “deepfakes.” The amendment was passed earlier this year and goes into effect today, making Virginia one of the first places with a law covering deepfakes.”3 (Robertson A. Virginia’s ‘revenge porn’ laws now officially cover deepfakes). Abuse of new technology is not a new thing. But with new problems presenting themselves every day, I feel like people are more aware of fake things on the internet and new precautions are being placed faster.

 

Resources:

1 https://www.techopedia.com/definition/33835/deepfake

2 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-30/deepfake-revenge-porn-noelle-martin-story-of-image-based-abuse/11437774

3 https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/1/20677800/virginia-revenge-porn-deepfakes-nonconsensual-photos-videos-ban-goes-into-effect

4 Photo: Photo by Hailey Kean on Unsplash

Warned against the”Digital Dark Age”

Why are there still paperback books being made? It is hard to put an exact number on published material but more than a million was self published.1 With this much published books why do we need more?

 

“It was interesting that the original Domesday Book was still available and yet the digital version could no longer be read,” said Prof Garner. 2

As the article points out physical copies of books have a important part as they are accessible regardless of a software. Outdated software becomes a problem as the future generation has no way of accessing said vital information.

It was enlightening to think about as I had always thought of physical copies of books as a burden: taking up too much space, a negative impact on earth, preservation issues and costs. However I came to realize that with printed materials it was more about ensuring that the findings and studies of this generation get carried over safely to the next generation.

red and white floppy disk on white surface

“Found this old floppy disc at my uncles place, pretty old, but those good old days.. 1.44MB storage, we can’t even imagine”(Fredy Jacob, Photographer) 3

 

Sources

http://www.bowker.com/news/2018/New-Record-More-than-1-Million-Books-Self-Published-in-2017.html

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11922192/Vital-information-could-be-lost-in-digital-dark-age-warns-professor.html

3 Photo by Fredy Jacob on Unsplash (unsplash.com/…earch/photos/old-technology)