SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
"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."
(Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Tuesday May 05 2020, @01:05PM (7 children)
Why not answer those questions rather than just ask them? For me, I work to better myself and others, to have purpose, and to make a future I feel good about. I pay taxes because well, they occasional pay for stuff that matters to me, like civilization.
If you think you can do that without playing "The Man's" game, then do it. Don't bother asking about it.
Or those third party candidates some people can't seem to recall exist.
Going Galt, I see.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 05 2020, @05:26PM (1 child)
You know the old saw about finding a job you enjoy, and you'll never work a day in your life?
It's bunk, of course*, but the point is there -- you can still find all the purpose you need in something you undertake because you enjoy it.
Now, perhaps you'd say that's still work, as in the most expansive sense "work" encompasses any activity other than sleeping, eating, and fishing, but the post you're replying to clearly means it in the sense of engagement in the economic system, i.e. employment.
*IRL it plays out more like "find a job doing something you enjoy, and within five years you'll have come to hate that activity by association".
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday May 05 2020, @08:51PM
And I did.
There's nothing forcing him to engage. People, even communities of people routinely live off the grid. It's not easy, but it's not impossible either.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 05 2020, @07:03PM (4 children)
"I pay taxes because well, they occasional pay for stuff that matters to me, like civilization."
only cowards, sell outs and idiots pay the income tax.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday May 05 2020, @08:17PM (2 children)
Sounds like you must pay a lot of income tax then.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 05 2020, @09:06PM (1 child)
I'll have you know that I'm delinquent on more tax debt than you are!
NB: different AC here
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday May 05 2020, @09:44PM
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Wednesday May 06 2020, @02:45AM
So, you've lived on the public teat your whole life?
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.