[HN Gopher] A "deepfake" is at the center of a harassment case, ...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       A "deepfake" is at the center of a harassment case, but what if
       it's not faked?
        
       Author : danso
       Score  : 107 points
       Date   : 2021-04-08 18:21 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.dailydot.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.dailydot.com)
        
       | danso wrote:
       | Thread on initial news story:
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26447471
        
       | crazygringo wrote:
       | This is no different from whether a letter was or wasn't faked,
       | or an e-mail, or whether a signature was forged or not.
       | 
       | You just get an expert witness (or opposing ones) to testify as
       | to the likelihood of something being forgery or not and why, as
       | well as take things like motivation, means, etc. into account.
       | 
       | There's literally nothing different about deepfakes. We have a
       | well-established court system for handling this.
        
         | lolsal wrote:
         | > There's literally nothing different about deepfakes.
         | 
         | That's a bit disingenuous don't you think?
        
       | mensetmanusman wrote:
       | " "Scary though if it isn't a deepfake," Shamook added. "This
       | could be the start of people being able to discredit real
       | evidence by simply saying 'deepfake.'" "
       | 
       | This.
       | 
       | I have been in a jury, and I wouldn't be surprised if image based
       | evidence won't always be discounted by defense attorneys. It
       | probably is already starting for the high paid ones (e.g. the
       | notion itself will protect the rich.)
       | 
       | It brings up an interesting future where you can't trust any
       | witness testimony (because people do misremember) or any video,
       | image, or audio evidence due to this technology.
       | 
       | The only societal workaround will be to implant cryptographic
       | keys inside of bodies and monitor all interactions on some
       | blockchain /s?
        
         | woah wrote:
         | It's always so odd when people assume that there were no
         | functioning legal systems during the tens of thousands of years
         | of human history before photography was invented
        
           | buran77 wrote:
           | The question is how effective that justice system was, not
           | whether it existed or not. It's the same with medicine, it
           | existed for quite some time but the effectiveness increased
           | drastically and you wouldn't want to roll back all that
           | progress.
           | 
           | The reality is that for most of those tens of thousands of
           | years justice systems were mostly a sham where the focal
           | point wasn't actually determining innocence but rather the
           | appearance of justice and pleasing (some) people.
        
           | tshaddox wrote:
           | Or now, for the vast majority of cases where direct
           | photographic evidence would be useful but does not exist.
        
           | xmprt wrote:
           | People lived before the Internet existed but it would be a
           | huge setback if we lost it. Similarly, advancements in
           | technology have allowed for our justice systems to be a lot
           | better and it would be a real shame if we lost that because
           | of deepfakes. I'm not saying it will go that far, but it's
           | totally normal to be wary of it.
        
         | drdeadringer wrote:
         | I remember an episode of the Olde Time Radio show "The Shadow"
         | where Lamont and Margo attend a trial as audience members. This
         | is in the 1930s // 1940s for context.
         | 
         | The prosecution projected a film with audio [cutting edge
         | technology at the time] demonstrating the crimes in question
         | [bribery and related charges].
         | 
         | Lamont ['The Shadow'] was able to hear the audio and read lips
         | at the same time and figure out that what was heard was not was
         | what said. "Believe half of what you see, and nothing you hear"
         | was his takeaway.
         | 
         | As the story goes, that's what happened. The film shown at
         | court was dubbed for audio by a hired guy who did great vocal
         | impersonations. The accused was innocent.
         | 
         | Short story long: deep fakes aren't a new idea. 100 years and
         | counting. Same trick, different tools.
        
         | nickysielicki wrote:
         | The phrasing of this rubs me the wrong way -- I get the feeling
         | that you're more afraid of guilty people being presumed
         | innocent than you are of innocent people being framed by
         | deepfakes.
         | 
         | Our justice system worked for a very long time in an
         | environment where cell phones didn't exist, where cities
         | weren't covered end-to-end in CCTV cameras, and our courts were
         | able to do a decent job of protecting the innocent and putting
         | away the bad guys. Distrust of video evidence only makes us
         | revert back 30 years to when we weren't so monitored. It's
         | something that we can survive. On the other hand, if we don't
         | see an outright rejection of deepfakes in our courts, we're
         | going to see it used as a political weapon. We can survive the
         | former, but not the latter.
         | 
         | Unfortunately, I don't see it working out that way. Once courts
         | and police get their hands on a new technology and it becomes
         | sufficiently ingrained, it doesn't matter how little sense it
         | makes. Drug dogs are bullshit, but they're still everywhere.
         | [1] DNA evidence can be synthesized and planted, but it's the
         | gold standard in terms of courtroom evidence. [2]
         | 
         | Given all of this, I don't have a lot of faith in our justice
         | system getting deepfakes right, and that worries me a lot more
         | than guilty people being presumed innocent.
         | 
         | [1]:
         | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/02/05/supreme-c...
         | 
         | [2]: Good reason to avoid giving your DNA to 23andMe or to the
         | state. Unfortunately, both my parents did 23andMe, so I'm
         | screwed regardless.
         | https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/science/18dna.html
        
           | Daho0n wrote:
           | >Drug dogs are bullshit, but they're still everywhere. [1]
           | 
           | Just because some abuse them and have no proper training
           | doesn't mean they are fake. You clearly have never seen a
           | police dog work. They are able to find dead people, drugs,
           | etc. that is at the bottom of the sea or follow the path the
           | target took while inside a car. What is BS is the "police"
           | and justice system in the US.
        
             | samatman wrote:
             | This is a misunderstanding of why "drug dogs are bullshit".
             | 
             | Yes, dogs are capable of sniffing out people, animals, and
             | substances. This has been made use of for centuries.
             | 
             | Dogs are also capable of "hitting" on the trunk of a car,
             | just because they guess that their master wants to look
             | inside it. Plenty of evidence that this happens all the
             | time.
             | 
             | Which undermines the right protecting against unreasonable
             | search and seizure. All you have to do is be the wrong
             | color, or driving in a "suspicious" way (which means
             | whatever police want it to mean), and they can bring a K9
             | by, the dog will dutifully point at the trunk, and the cops
             | get their search.
             | 
             | It's no different from the "I smelled pot" routine: there
             | aren't any penalties to the police for doing an "I smelled
             | pot" search and not finding cannabis, and there are no
             | consequences for a K9 'hitting' on a trunk which turns out
             | to have nothing more interesting than a gym bag.
        
             | rStar wrote:
             | drug dogs usefulness to law enforcement, almost
             | exclusively, are as machines to manufacture probable cause
             | on command. As this is how they're used, "bullshit" is far
             | too kind a descriptor.
        
             | Enginerrrd wrote:
             | Just because one drug dog might actually work doesn't mean
             | that, on average, they and their handlers are performing to
             | standard sufficient for probable cause.
        
           | rossdavidh wrote:
           | I don't think the history regarding how courts (and juries)
           | handled eyewitness testimony, is all that different from how
           | they handle DNA evidence. It's regarded as far more reliable
           | than it is.
        
           | Klinky wrote:
           | The track record of the justice system has been extremely
           | mixed for many, and downright awful for minorities. DNA
           | testing has been absolutely crucial in the last 30 - 40 years
           | for undoing some of the damage the justice system caused
           | before DNA testing was adequately available. There is no
           | comfort found in regressing backwards to where forensic
           | science becomes easily dismissible, and we're reliant on who
           | can buy the most prestigious expert witness to testify for
           | them.
        
             | Rule35 wrote:
             | Courts and police have still done vastly more for
             | minorities than against them.
        
         | fxtentacle wrote:
         | There already are services who claim to be able to verify the
         | authenticity of images. And so far, I managed to fool all of
         | them with good CGI videos injected through MIPI into an Android
         | system.
         | 
         | I remember that TruePic was especially awful, because their app
         | fell for me just taking a photo of a printed out image. Plus
         | their website overflows with Blockchain and Crypto buzzwords
        
           | Yajirobe wrote:
           | > There already are services who claim to be able to verify
           | the authenticity of images. And so far, I managed to fool all
           | of them with good CGI videos injected through MIPI into an
           | Android system.
           | 
           | Not to mention adversarial attacks will probably always
           | exist, so there will always be a way to fool these systems.
        
         | jmcqk6 wrote:
         | I don't think this is new at all. The specifics might be new,
         | but the problem is quite old, and has been with us for
         | thousands of years.
         | 
         | I think the danger is in trying to come up with an abstract,
         | general solution for it. I don't think one exists.
         | 
         | I think the only thing we can do is deal with things on a case
         | by case basis in these situations.
        
         | pvarangot wrote:
         | I thought that juries are instructed to decided when it's
         | "beyond any reasonable doubt"? So if the defense wants to
         | discredit video evidence they have to make a case that that's a
         | reasonable doubt, probably have experts review the video and
         | provide at least a sketch up of the motive behind spending
         | resources on forging evidence like that. Also I understand that
         | in most cases that go to trial there's more than just video
         | evidence.
        
           | Ma8ee wrote:
           | It would surprise me if there aren't cases where the only
           | evidence is security camera footage.
        
         | throwaway0a5e wrote:
         | >It brings up an interesting future where you can't trust any
         | witness testimony (because people do misremember) or any video,
         | image, or audio evidence due to this technology.
         | 
         | That future sounds a lot like the past where we couldn't trust
         | testimony and audiovisual evidence was practically nonexistent.
        
         | paxys wrote:
         | IMO it's a step in the right direction. Photos and videos
         | _should_ at minimum be signed /cryptographically verifiable if
         | they are used as key testimony in court. We have had the tools
         | to easily and convincingly fake photos for decades now. I can
         | bet there are people behind bars today because someone got
         | creative with photoshop.
        
           | thebean11 wrote:
           | If I'm an end consumer taking pictures and videos for fun /
           | posterity what's the incentive for me to have them
           | cryptographically signed? Why would I ever need to prove
           | they're real?
           | 
           | Are you saying that by law devices should cryptographically
           | sign pictures?
        
           | ben0x539 wrote:
           | Hm, I'm out of the loop here, who would sign the photos? The
           | camera app?
        
           | AnthonyMouse wrote:
           | > Photos and videos _should_ at minimum be signed
           | /cryptographically verifiable if they are used as key
           | testimony in court.
           | 
           | This kind of "verification" doesn't work. You're trying to
           | have the device authenticate the image. That implies a root
           | of trust that goes through the device manufacturer, which
           | state actors will immediately compromise, making the
           | signatures untrustworthy regardless. Then people will find
           | vulnerabilities in the devices themselves, or convincing ways
           | to have the device take a picture of a doctored photograph
           | instead of a picture of the world, extending the ability to
           | forge signatures to the general public.
           | 
           | The resources needed to forge a signature aren't going to be
           | much different than the resources needed to create a deepfake
           | to begin with. The creator gets to choose which device to use
           | and can choose based on which device they find a
           | vulnerability in. So it's more likely to be a liability than
           | a benefit because it lends false credence to the authenticity
           | of fakes.
           | 
           | For it to work you would need all devices to be secure
           | against all attackers. It's not realistic.
        
             | chrisco255 wrote:
             | > The resources needed to forge a signature aren't going to
             | be much different than the resources needed to create a
             | deepfake to begin with.
             | 
             | How? If you have a public/private key pair and then do some
             | kind of multisig process wherein the manufacturer can sign
             | the photo, the OS can sign the photo, and then a user
             | supplied signature could also sign the photo. You're not
             | going to be able to fake 3 cryptographic signatures without
             | 3 private keys. It would be extremely difficult to fake all
             | of that. It would take a concerted, concentrated effort and
             | would be extremely rare in practice. It would certainly
             | improve the situation.
        
               | AnthonyMouse wrote:
               | Once you compromise the device it doesn't matter how many
               | keys there are because they all have to be on the device.
        
               | titzer wrote:
               | As a user, why does my private key need to be on the
               | device? Especially, because I wouldn't want it there,
               | because devices get stolen.
        
               | AnthonyMouse wrote:
               | It has to be where the camera is. Otherwise the device
               | holding your private key would need some way to
               | authenticate photos from the device with the camera,
               | which was the original problem.
        
               | chrisco255 wrote:
               | First off, you'd have to steal the actual device. Then
               | you'd have to break the device encryption itself to then
               | extract a an encrypted version of a private key. (the
               | private key itself can be encrypted with a password not
               | stored on the device) You pair the 3 sigs plus a
               | blockchain to track timestamps and photo hash signatures
               | and maybe pair that with a different blockchain app to
               | report lost or stolen devices...and you've got yourself
               | as secure of a system as you can conceive in the age of
               | deep fakes.
        
               | xyzzy123 wrote:
               | One threat is that a malicious actor uses a compromised
               | device to fake a "legitimate" verified image.
               | 
               | This image can now be injected into the news cycle and be
               | taken seriously.
               | 
               | Keeping a secret on the camera is more or less the
               | "jailbreak problem", aka being able to make a dvd player
               | or console that only does the things that the
               | manufacturer wants.
               | 
               | I will be pretty sad if this problem is actually "solved"
               | effectively because it portends a future where
               | manufacturers can completely curtail user freedom. But...
               | 
               | If the key on the device is compromised by reverse
               | engineering or because the manufacturer is compromised
               | then the whole root of trust is gone.
               | 
               | Attackers can choose the weakest brand of camera.
               | 
               | You now have some doubt about _any_ image that has been
               | "verified" because it could have come from a compromised
               | camera secret.
               | 
               | All the rest of the stuff, the blockchain, etc depends on
               | the root of trust in the camera.
               | 
               | You also now have debates around camera country of origin
               | because there is no near future world where governments
               | can't lean on local manufacturers. Finally, doubt can be
               | thrown on images retro-actively if we later learn that a
               | camera we thought was secure, has vulnerabilities.
        
             | nharada wrote:
             | > The resources needed to forge a signature aren't going to
             | be much different than the resources needed to create a
             | deepfake to begin with
             | 
             | I imagine deepfakes will become way easier in the near
             | future because there are legitimate commercial reasons to
             | make them easy and accessible (for example digital art
             | assets). I don't see the same happening for cracking
             | devices, which is more a standard security cat and mouse
             | game between hackers and device manufacturers.
        
               | AnthonyMouse wrote:
               | All you're saying is that creating deepfakes would get
               | easier, not that cracking devices would get harder. And
               | it's already not hard enough to be a significant barrier.
        
             | tshaddox wrote:
             | You've explained why it wouldn't work flawlessly, but that
             | doesn't mean it wouldn't work better than the current state
             | of affairs. Video evidence is already useful in the legal
             | system despite "video evidence" obviously not being a
             | flawless system. A state actor or even a competent video
             | effects studio with a modest budget could already create a
             | convincing fake video!
        
             | Asraelite wrote:
             | One possibility would be for all recording devices to
             | immediately upload checksums of their recorded footage to
             | multiple trusted online authorities upon recording.
             | 
             | If someone presents altered footage, you can show that the
             | checksum of the original was uploaded earlier.
             | 
             | This of course only covers certain cases. If the deepfake
             | is crafted from scratch or from a camera that doesn't
             | upload its checksums, and the incentive for the creation of
             | the deepfake arises before the supposed time the deepfake
             | takes place, then this method won't be of use.
        
               | AnthonyMouse wrote:
               | Opt out and it's an invasion of privacy, opt in and
               | nobody does and it isn't applicable to 99% of authentic
               | footage.
               | 
               | And subject to attack. Don't want to be recorded? Jam
               | wireless so they can't have anyone sign their videos,
               | then claim they're fake.
               | 
               | Also doesn't work for state actors. A country can
               | compromise three separate signing authorities.
        
             | jjk166 wrote:
             | Chain of custody is standard for evidence already. It might
             | not be 100% infallible, but it certainly works better than
             | nothing.
             | 
             | Yes, if a state actor wants to create evidence to frame
             | you, and they didn't care about cost or returns, they could
             | do so. But they could always do so. The fact is most of us
             | are never going to get framed by a nation state.
             | 
             | The notion that you're either secure against all possible
             | attacks or nothing is absurd.
        
               | moftz wrote:
               | I guess the weakpoint in all of these techniques to prove
               | a photo was taken by a certain device, at a certain time,
               | in a certain place is for someone wearing a very good
               | disguise to publicly commit crimes in your name. Any
               | witnesses or photo evidence is going to point to you. A
               | full movie costume makeup kit probably costs less than
               | what it takes to hack Apple for someone's iPhone private
               | key.
        
               | AnthonyMouse wrote:
               | Chain of custody implies you have some impartial
               | authority who was actually there at the time to
               | authenticate the recording. But then you would already
               | have an impartial eyewitness. That doesn't work the other
               | 99% of the time when the two parties to the case each
               | tell a different story and one of them is offering
               | evidence they have in their possession. The chain of
               | custody then contains someone partial to the case and
               | untrustworthy.
               | 
               | > Yes, if a state actor wants to create evidence to frame
               | you, and they didn't care about cost or returns, they
               | could do so. But they could always do so. The fact is
               | most of us are never going to get framed by a nation
               | state.
               | 
               | This is a major problem for elections. Nation states
               | absolutely will doctor video of adversarial political
               | candidates and for other propaganda purposes.
               | 
               | > The notion that you're either secure against all
               | possible attacks or nothing is absurd.
               | 
               | But that's how signatures work. You're trusting every
               | device in the world to sign the output of its camera. If
               | the attacker can compromise any device, they can produce
               | signed forgeries.
        
               | jjk166 wrote:
               | You're describing a situation where the recording ought
               | not to be admissible anyways. If you can't trust where
               | evidence came from, it's not evidence.
               | 
               | Again, nation states have always been able to doctor
               | video of adversarial political candidates. Lookup
               | pictures where the KGB made someone disappear.
               | 
               | Yes, if an attacker can compromise any device they can
               | produce a signed forgery. But that's a really big if.
               | There are a lot of potential attackers who can't
               | compromise any and all devices, and signatures protect
               | against them.
        
           | astrange wrote:
           | There are pretty good ways to detect photo editing, using
           | things like measuring levels of JPEG artifacts across the
           | image. Or if you save pictures raw I've never seen anyone try
           | to fake a camera raw file.
        
             | Ma8ee wrote:
             | Why would it be harder or different to fake a raw file?
        
               | astrange wrote:
               | I didn't say it would be hard, just that I haven't seen
               | one. But they contain a lot of information that can't be
               | displayed on a computer monitor and so it would be a lot
               | of work to check all of it.
        
             | NortySpock wrote:
             | Couldn't you just "rebalance" the JPEG artifacts as a final
             | pass? Or some sort of slight blur that re-jumbles the least
             | significant bits of every pixel?
        
               | therealx wrote:
               | Yes, this is standard in the forgery business - dust and
               | speckle filter, drop the res, ensure the light is
               | balanced, and maybe blur if you can get away with it.
        
               | astrange wrote:
               | These general techniques are weak against specific
               | detection models that understand how the original image
               | should've been generated. Another example is camera noise
               | modeling since the injected noise won't be consistent
               | with how a phone camera etc actually behaves.
               | 
               | Changing the resolution could be effective though.
               | Another cheap trick would be shifting the image 4 pixels
               | over to break up the DCT artifact grid.
        
           | foepys wrote:
           | Who does the verification? Who does guard the keys? Who is
           | responsible when keys go missing and "prove" false
           | information?
           | 
           | Just saying "we need to sign photos" isn't enough and simply
           | naive.
        
           | cabalamat wrote:
           | Maybe something like Third Eyes (
           | https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/05/08/raikoth-corruption-
           | pri... ) could do the job.
        
           | floren wrote:
           | As a fan of film photography, I smile at a future in which a
           | roll of developed negatives is valuable evidence because it's
           | a lot harder to fake.
        
         | grobbles wrote:
         | There is a recent British Netflix series called "The Capture"
         | that is pertinent to this discussion. A little absurd at times,
         | but for anyone who wants some mental floss around this topic
         | it's a very interesting show.
        
         | throwaway17_17 wrote:
         | The other aspect of discounting image evidence in this way
         | would be to produce multiple conflicting versions and then
         | argue a jury can never be sure which is real (where deepfake
         | quality is comparable to the law enforcement original). This
         | would have a hurdle for admission in a criminal case, but I
         | would be able to very easily argue an acquittal if it was
         | presented to the jury.
        
       | panzagl wrote:
       | Doesn't matter where the material came from, there was still
       | harassment.
        
         | joe_the_user wrote:
         | This seems like the main point. Defamation can include true
         | statements in a number of situations, notably when someone
         | isn't a public figure.
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation
        
           | jcranmer wrote:
           | In the US, truth is absolute defense to defamation: if the
           | defendant can show that the alleged statement is true, the
           | defamation case fails right then and there. The difference
           | between public and non-public figures with respect to
           | defamation is that the statement needs to be made with
           | "actual malice" if the figure is public (i.e., knew it was
           | false or recklessly disregarded the falsehood).
        
       | willcipriano wrote:
       | Watch the embedded video. Either some random woman with no
       | apparent background in this work made the most convincing deep
       | fake I've ever seen, or that young woman was caught on film
       | smoking something.
       | 
       | If its really fake the folks over at Sassy Justice should hire
       | her, their stuff looks like garbage in comparison.
        
         | SolarNet wrote:
         | I mean it's pretty classic trick to mix in real stuff with fake
         | stuff. This video was probably really, but one of the videos in
         | question is apparently fake.
        
         | whimsicalism wrote:
         | Yeah, having watched that, there's no chance that is a
         | "deepfake" and likely is not a fake at all.
        
         | bigtones wrote:
         | A young woman was caught on film vaping - it is inconclusive to
         | me it was THAT young woman.
        
           | willcipriano wrote:
           | That is certainly possible but I'd personally bet that her
           | own mother would know instantly if that was the case.
        
             | _Microft wrote:
             | Well, there were people mistaking pictures of others for
             | pictures of themselves already...
             | 
             | https://www.dpreview.com/news/7021408195/hipster-offended-
             | af...
        
       | henriquez wrote:
       | The story here isn't about harassment or the technical chops of
       | some bitter mom. This is the perfect way for the Mockingbird
       | Media to introduce the concept of a "deepfake" to the public. A
       | video, followed by claims it's fake, followed by claims it might
       | not be fake. The end result is confused and more easily-
       | manipulated masses who need to trust authorities to vet all
       | information they receive, an abusive but codependent
       | relationship.
        
         | ed25519FUUU wrote:
         | Whenever I think about politicians lamenting about the
         | deepfakes, I can't help but wonder if they're attempting to get
         | ahead of Jeffrey Epstein new. Epstein allegedly ran a blackmail
         | operation by recording people in "compromising" situations on
         | his island and ranch (and probably other places).
         | 
         | "That wasn't me on camera. Must be a deepfake!"
        
         | bentcorner wrote:
         | > the Mockingbird Media
         | 
         | Can you please not. It's hard to take someone's argument
         | seriously when this kind of name-calling is intermingled with
         | it. It's similar to someone writing m$ft or unironically
         | referring to Zuckerberg as a robot.
        
         | depingus wrote:
         | I think Trey Parker and Matt Stone did an the best introduction
         | to deep fakes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WfZuNceFDM
        
         | udhdhxnxn wrote:
         | It is also a great opportunity to reveal blackmail inflation
         | and the impact on controlled elites.
        
           | macawfish wrote:
           | I looked this up and was not disappointed. Thanks for
           | sharing!
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | brippalcharrid wrote:
           | I'd love for this information to be released now, but
           | wouldn't publishing cryptographic hashes of the material now
           | (or a decade ago) prevent it from being dismissed as
           | deepfakery if it's released in the future?
        
           | phreeza wrote:
           | Is this a thing?
        
         | joe_the_user wrote:
         | _The end result is confused and more easily-manipulated masses
         | who need to trust authorities to vet all information they
         | receive, an abusive but codependent relationship._
         | 
         | On the one hand, yeah, it's definitely more how the press likes
         | a human interest story mixed with whatever is flavor of the
         | month (the techno wow of "deep fakes").
         | 
         | But on the hand, the tone you take in that last sentence is
         | really off-kilter. The press just works in a kind of hysterical
         | fashion, moral panics (even conspiracy theories) aren't
         | conspiracies but natural. Attributing stuff to a malicious
         | effort to make the public more manipulable (as if that was
         | necessary) should be dropped in favor of the natural
         | incompetence of the press in framing issues reasonably.
         | 
         | Edit: "Mocking Bird" above is a phrase referencing CIA
         | manipulation of the media. This is a bit of over the top for
         | just some rather screechy but pretty ordinary story.
        
           | Natsu wrote:
           | The GP's argument doesn't make any sense to me. The reporting
           | was good for a change. It gives named, verifiable sources who
           | are legitimate experts on the subject and several of them, it
           | tells us where to find the video in question [1] and gives us
           | the basis for their opinion (e.g. no visual artifacts in the
           | smoke or when the hand goes in front of the face).
           | 
           | All of this can be confirmed by a responsible news consumer
           | and everything I can find here checks out. So this is legit
           | investigative news and precisely the kind of thing we should
           | encourage more of.
           | 
           | I am aware of Project Mockingbird [2] but I cannot see any
           | relation between it and this report. It makes no sense
           | whatsoever that the CIA would care about some squabble over
           | unknown cheerleaders. It makes no sense to believe that
           | everything is or isn't a deepfake without examining the
           | facts. And this article, unlike so many I have seen, is an
           | example of news done right. Given how disinformation works,
           | this is the opposite of it. This article was written to
           | inform, not to inflame our passions.
           | 
           | In short, it's the polar opposite of what I would expect from
           | disinformation and this is the kind of good reporting that
           | should be rewarded.
           | 
           | [1] It should've actually linked it, IMHO, but I won't
           | complain because it wasn't hard to find this video @0:49 -
           | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5I1RfxehT4
           | 
           | [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Mockingbird
        
           | readflaggedcomm wrote:
           | A "mockingbird" also sings late into the night and mimics
           | other birds, which can be annoying and throw the blame on
           | others. It's a natural metaphor.
        
             | redindian75 wrote:
             | 'mocking bird media' is a Qnon term like "deep state".
        
               | readflaggedcomm wrote:
               | The etymologies disagree, but you be sure to not waste a
               | good conspiracy theory so you can label people.
        
               | henriquez wrote:
               | Qanon didn't invent Operation Mockingbird. The CIA did.
        
           | NOGDP wrote:
           | > Attributing stuff to a malicious effort to make the public
           | more manipulable (as if that was necessary) should be dropped
           | in favor of the natural incompetence of the press in framing
           | issues reasonably.
           | 
           | Except we've known for a long time that the mainstream press
           | works, very intentionally, to manipulate public opinion.
        
             | joe_the_user wrote:
             | The press has influence. The press has always had
             | influence. In a society involving mass media, the press
             | can't not-have influence.
             | 
             | We might talk about what form a society would have to have
             | for the press to not have great influence - maybe "very
             | strong education and civil institutions" or "directly
             | democratic workers' councils" but if we're going have a
             | modern capitalist society with multiple poles of elites and
             | atomized consumers, the press, the corporations, the state
             | and highest professional all will have disproportionate
             | influence.
             | 
             | Which is to say, now, all the different press outlets
             | manipulate, sometimes in distinct and opposite ways,
             | sometimes in agreement with each other. And all the various
             | economic and political institutions manipulate.
             | 
             | And the thing with this manipulation is it doesn't require
             | crazy plan like the ggp/op insinuates. They don't need to
             | intentionally create "deep fake" as vague threat, human
             | psychology just naturally drifts that way, including the
             | psychology of the reporters themselves. And manipulation
             | for a specific purpose just requires the poor framing of
             | ideas that can leveraged whenever you need it. So yeah, the
             | press certainly manipulate but it doesn't generally have a
             | "master plan" of manipulation. That wouldn't help (not that
             | it hasn't been tried).
        
             | sushisource wrote:
             | Probably sometimes, intuitively it's pretty damn obvious
             | not _all_ the time, and based on what evidence? What a huge
             | sweeping claim to just drop in one sentence.
        
         | anonu wrote:
         | I do agree with you. But this specific article seems to
         | actually question the media:
         | 
         | > Even more troublesome, it seems that no media outlets
         | attempted to verify that the vaping footage was actually a
         | deepfake before broadcasting the claim to millions of
         | Americans.
         | 
         | > The possible misstep by the media, and the chance that the
         | criminal justice system could misapply laws against videos
         | mischaracterized as deepfakes, is what worries experts the
         | most.
        
       | im3w1l wrote:
       | > While prosecutors have not provided specifics, tools designed
       | to make women appear nude in images with the aid of artificial
       | intelligence (AI) do exist.
       | 
       | They may be able to generate a "plausible" nude, suitable for
       | rubbing one out. But it's not a real nude. Moles and scars wont
       | match. The data is just not there, so the manipulator has to make
       | something up. Thus I think the nudes are actually the most
       | promising for conclusively proving or disproving a manipulation.
        
         | lazide wrote:
         | Hard to disprove without stripping naked for a court witness
         | though, which is a pretty high degree of 'shitty' that would be
         | easy to cause. Especially if you used a ton of stolen bikini
         | photos to generate the deep fake. Not a lot of skin that
         | wouldn't exactly match, and the parts that don't would
         | definitely not be for public consumption.
        
           | lurquer wrote:
           | Don't now why you're getting downvoted.
           | 
           | This happens.
           | 
           | Particularly in rape cases where the woman (or child)
           | describes some particular feature on the alleged rapists
           | genitals.
           | 
           | Michael Jackson had to strip down, as I recall. Obviously not
           | in open court.
        
           | jjk166 wrote:
           | You don't need to strip naked, you just need to show one
           | discrepancy. Cut a hole in a pair of cheap jeans where you
           | have a mole that's not in the video.
        
         | Karawebnetwork wrote:
         | The video in this story seems to be quite low resolution and
         | from a distance. Scars and moles are pretty much invisible in
         | this situation.
        
       | jjk166 wrote:
       | > "The videos or the images already existed in some form and then
       | our allegation--this is of course subject to proof at trial,
       | she's innocent until proven guilty--but our allegation is that
       | Mrs. Spone took existing images from existing social media from
       | these three victims' existing social media accounts and
       | manipulated them," Weintraub said.
       | 
       | > The statement is similar to claims made by Engelhart to the
       | Daily Dot that Spone allegedly used legitimate video as a basis
       | for the deepfake. Police did not know whether the alleged
       | victim's face was added to a video of another young female vaping
       | or if a vaping pen and smoke was digitally added to a legitimate
       | video of the alleged victim.
       | 
       | If you're saying that she started with one video or image that
       | was publicly accessible and modified it, I'd expect them to have
       | the original video or image so they could tell what was added.
        
       | ALittleLight wrote:
       | Weintraub also stated during the press conference that
       | investigators determined that the vaping video had been
       | manipulated after analyzing its "metadata," a term which refers
       | to embedded information in digital media that can reveal how and
       | when it was last edited.
       | 
       | But after contacting Reiss, the officer who investigated Spone,
       | the Daily Dot learned that police never actually obtained the
       | original vaping video. Instead, like what was seen on NBC News,
       | police only had access to a cellphone recording taken by Spone of
       | the vaping video being played on a separate device. Any metadata
       | analysis would therefore fail to include information on the
       | source video.
       | 
       | In response to questions on how it could have been determined
       | that the vaping footage was manipulated without access to the
       | original video, Reiss argued that he could see with his "naked
       | eye" elements that "don't make sense."
       | 
       | -----
       | 
       | So... They can tell by the metadata on a copy of the file plus a
       | naked eye analysis of the video that this is a deep fake? That's
       | much worse evidence for the deep fake case than I assumed there
       | would be.
       | 
       | This does make me wonder though: Should we default to believing
       | video or doubting it? Does the victim here need to prove it is a
       | deep fake or the perpetrator prove it's not?
        
         | ASalazarMX wrote:
         | > In response to questions on how it could have been determined
         | that the vaping footage was manipulated without access to the
         | original video, Reiss argued that he could see with his "naked
         | eye" elements that "don't make sense."
         | 
         | Never expected to see a version of the "I can tell from some of
         | the pixels and from seeing quite a few shops in my time." meme
         | used as legal testimony.
        
       | vmception wrote:
       | lol a video being manipulated doesn't mean its a deepfake
       | 
       | but I suppose it will follow the same standard as sexual
       | harassment and rape victims: if they've ever altered the truth in
       | the past then their current experience is invalidated for the
       | purpose of using a court to reduce freedom for someone else
       | 
       | so videos will have to be closest to raw sensor data or
       | inadmissable
        
       | aaron695 wrote:
       | The fact Sassy Justice is meta says a lot about where deep fake
       | tech is at.
       | 
       | When CNN starts using deep fake tech to show Trump throwing a
       | bowl of fish food into a pond, then it's reached maturity.
        
       | epanchin wrote:
       | This person allegedly created a deepfake video that simulated a
       | child nude, and sent it to someone else. Why was she not charged
       | with creating and distributing child pornography?
        
       | nightpool wrote:
       | So just to summarize:
       | 
       | 1. A cheerleader's mom anonymously texted some images and a video
       | of a rival cheerleader to her coach. One of these images was a
       | deepfake--a swimsuit photo off of Facebook edited to make the
       | subject look nude. The other images and the video (of the girls
       | drinking and smoking), were real.
       | 
       | 2. The girl and her mom were charged with cyber harassment and
       | harassment. The prosecutors weren't entirely clear on which of
       | the photos + video were real and which were edited--the victim
       | claimed they were all fake--but the whole thing was generally
       | classed as harassment. Later, the police claimed that "metadata
       | analysis" proved the video was fake.
       | 
       | 3. ABC (among others, but ABC is mentioned in this article) ran a
       | TV spot about this story, repeating the prosecutor's assertion
       | that the video was manipulated
       | 
       | 4. Twitter user @HenryAjder ("Deepfake expert"), among others,
       | pointed out the error
       | 
       | 5. The DailyDot published this article
       | 
       | This seems like a bit of a nothingburger? Any reason we're still
       | talking about this? Nobody was "discrediting evidence", the
       | videos & photos were only evidence to one thing--that someone
       | sent them to her coach in order to get her kicked off the team.
       | Whether they were real or not was immaterial to the harassment
       | that occurred.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | swiley wrote:
         | Wow I was expecting assholes from 4chan not an obsessive soccer
         | mom.
        
           | throwaway0a5e wrote:
           | Technology trickles down
           | 
           | Nations state > Bigco > Smallco > Neckbeards > Karen
           | 
           | (skipping some steps but you catch the drift).
           | 
           | The metadata stuff the NSA was doing 20yr ago is what
           | advertisers are doing today. SpaceX is doing stuff that was
           | recently only the purview of nation states.
        
         | macawfish wrote:
         | The facts of the situation are definitely not that exciting but
         | the significance of the story itself is pretty monumental. Just
         | the fact that such ordinary people are caught up in public
         | uncertainty about the authenticity of media depicting very
         | ordinary human stuff, all because of the ubiquity of a bunch of
         | < 10 year old tech... this is the tip of a massive very messy
         | iceberg.
        
           | zionic wrote:
           | We're not that far off from every 14 year old being able to
           | do this on their phone.
           | 
           | The rising millennial generation is not ready for the chaos
           | their progeny is about to unleash on the world.
        
         | jjk166 wrote:
         | > The statement is similar to claims made by Engelhart to the
         | Daily Dot that Spone allegedly used legitimate video as a basis
         | for the deepfake. Police did not know whether the alleged
         | victim's face was added to a video of another young female
         | vaping or if a vaping pen and smoke was digitally added to a
         | legitimate video of the alleged victim.
         | 
         | > Weintraub also stated during the press conference that
         | investigators determined that the vaping video had been
         | manipulated after analyzing its "metadata," a term which refers
         | to embedded information in digital media that can reveal how
         | and when it was last edited.
         | 
         | > But after contacting Reiss, the officer who investigated
         | Spone, the Daily Dot learned that police never actually
         | obtained the original vaping video. Instead, like what was seen
         | on NBC News, police only had access to a cellphone recording
         | taken by Spone of the vaping video being played on a separate
         | device. Any metadata analysis would therefore fail to include
         | information on the source video.
         | 
         | It appears the police are calling the video of the vaping a
         | deepfake
        
           | nightpool wrote:
           | My mistake! I had hedged around that point in my original
           | comment, but I removed it after reading the twitter thread
           | DailyDot where HenryAjder seemed to imply the opposite. I've
           | updated my comment to clarify
        
         | DyslexicAtheist wrote:
         | > This seems like a bit of a nothingburger?
         | 
         | what was a takeaway here regardless of the story being wrong,
         | is that the damage deepfakes will cause might not be what self-
         | proclaimed futurists predicted (e.g. rampant use of the
         | technology as a means to subvert evidence) but the opposite:
         | that people will counter justified allegations of evidence as
         | being deepfakes. So not the technology is doing most of the
         | damage but the hypothetical possibility that allows that these
         | arguments now exist.
         | 
         | Imagine any Karen or Kyle now being presented with video
         | evidence will soon scream "deepfake". And few have seen this
         | coming because we were more absorbed with hypothetical (but
         | less realistic) scenarios.
         | 
         | This is even more fascinating (and was the simpler answer yet
         | most have missed it).
         | 
         | https://cla.purdue.edu/academic/english/theory/postmodernism...
        
         | danso wrote:
         | I think it's interesting if law enforcement bungles a type of
         | evidence that is almost certainly going to be more of a
         | society-wide problem in the near future
        
           | nightpool wrote:
           | My impression is that law enforcement generally bungles every
           | single type of evidence on a regular basis. Computer evidence
           | is only notable because we're paying more attention to it.
        
             | zionic wrote:
             | Alternate: they bungle computer evidence just as much but
             | society hasn't caught up to their ineptitude yet.
        
       | qwerty456127 wrote:
       | I'm just curious how many centuries will have to pass before we
       | outgrow the bullshit society where being exposed smoking,
       | drinking (but not harming anybody while drunk) and posing nude
       | can harm you.
        
       | ed25519FUUU wrote:
       | Can someone fill me in here? Would an anonymous video with no
       | chain of custody ever be admissible in court even without
       | deepfakes? After all, there was always CGI.
        
         | ceejayoz wrote:
         | It would certainly be admissible.
         | 
         | You could also certainly get an expert witness to give their
         | opinion on whether that video is CGI or not.
        
           | navaati wrote:
           | You would also have to pay this expert witness... if you can.
        
         | tiahura wrote:
         | Yes. In order to have a photo admitted you just have to lay the
         | foundation via a witness.
         | 
         | To lay the foundation for admission for a photograph into
         | evidence, ask questions such as these:
         | 
         | Q. Mr. Witness, I'm handing you a photograph that's been marked
         | Exhibit 2 for identification. What is depicted in that
         | photograph?
         | 
         | A. A stoplight at the intersection of 4th and Pine.
         | 
         | Q. Is that photograph a fair and accurate representation of the
         | stoplight at 4th and Pine as it existed on the day of the
         | collision?
         | 
         | A. Yes, it is.
         | 
         | At this point, you can move for admission of the photograph
         | into evidence.
         | 
         | https://www.illinoistrialpractice.com/2004/11/foundational_q...
         | 
         | On cross examination the other side has the right to try to
         | discredit the witness: "Aren't you really blind, couldn't this
         | be a deepfake, " etc. And, they have the right to put on an
         | expert or other witness to testify that it's fake or the wrong
         | picture or whatever. In the end, it all goes to the jury and
         | they get to make of it what they will.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2021-04-08 23:01 UTC)