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posted by chromas on Tuesday May 05 2020, @01:01AM   Printer-friendly
from the fake-it-'til-you-break-it dept.

"If you were to ask me what the key risk in the 2020 election is, I would say it's not deepfakes," said Kathryn Harrison, the founder and CEO of the DeepTrust Alliance, a coalition fighting deepfakes and other kinds of digital disinformation (that is: intentional, malicious false info). "It's actually going to be a true video that will pop up in late October that we won't be able to prove [whether] it's true or false."

This is the bigger, more devious threat, what's known as the Liar's Dividend. The term, popular in deepfake-research circles, means the mere existence of deepfakes gives more credibility to denials. Essentially, deepfakes make it easier for candidates caught on tape to convince voters of their innocence -- even if they're guilty -- because people have learned they can't believe their eyes anymore.

[...] "I don't think anyone's going to see a piece of video content, real or fake, and suddenly change their vote on Election Day," said Clint Watts, distinguished research fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute who testified to Congress last year about deepfakes and national security. "Trying to convince people Joe Biden touches people too much or whatever….I don't see how people's opinions can be really shaped in this media environment with that."

What worries him more are deepfakes that undermine election integrity -- like an authoritative figure reporting misinformation about turnout, polling site disruptions or voting machines changing your ballot.

Another worry: Deepfakes could destabilize the vote on US soil by causing havoc at a US outpost abroad. Imagine a fake that triggers an attack like the one on the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012, which became a political flashpoint in the US. State actors like China or Russia, for example, could find an effective strategy in forged videos that endanger US soldiers or US diplomats, particularly in war-torn regions or countries ruled by a dictator, where populations are already struggling to separate truth from propaganda and rumor.

[...] No matter what form an election deepfake tries to take, the time to be on highest alert is right before you cast your vote.

"If it happens 48 hours out of the Election Day," Watts said, "we may not have a chance to fix it."


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  • (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 05 2020, @01:25AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 05 2020, @01:25AM (#990524)

    This. But with Democrats.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 05 2020, @01:30AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 05 2020, @01:30AM (#990525)

    ...of the population that voted for them.

    With the newfound space and freedom the rest of us can get busy repopulating the country, or giving it back to its indigenous peoples with a better grasp of how to keep it out of foreign hands in the future :)

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 05 2020, @06:58PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 05 2020, @06:58PM (#990819)

      that's correct. there's about 2% that are Real Americans. The rest are useful idiots and active subversives (cops, lawyers, legislators, etc).

  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 05 2020, @03:14AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 05 2020, @03:14AM (#990563)

    This. But with bourgeoisie.

  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 05 2020, @04:48AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 05 2020, @04:48AM (#990597)

    Why Not Both?