Privacy in Digital Age
What was once a funny concept used to mimic adult stars by swapping their faces with hollywood actors which were not suitable for work, has now turned into people face-swapping political leaders with a program called Deep Fakes. While the Government loses control over cyber manipulation, the creativity humans have over navigating through this development is impeccable.
Yes, the Deep Fakes software program is creepy nonetheless, but even I don’t believe these impersonating videos have really spooked the government to the point of causing any serious concerns. Software developers opened up a whirlpool of endless possibilities for the average citizen.
According to Reddit, a website where organized posts are subject into user-created text posts or video links. The ‘dark web’ portion of the reddit community began posting videos that were deceiving on the eyes. Numerous individuals managed to upload inappropriate videos with Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot face attached to someone else’s body.
AI based human image technique gives Deep Fakes the chance to trick the minds of the faint hearted, but only briefly because while these videos are shocking at first glance you can tell just how fake it really is. The algorithm is not advanced enough to configure someone’s face with unpredictable movements attached. You would have to program thousands of face images to really get the face swap to work properly, it’s perfect for celebrities and political leaders who have hundreds of pictures and videos on the web.
The Government thinks that Deep Fakes is a threat to National Security and politicians but that is a contradictory to the privacy that the government and the CIA has stripped from americans for years.
Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee copied and leaked classified files to The Guardian. He exposed the government for spying on citizens through electronic devices and webcam enabled computers.
So, the government has the right to deceive the entire nation by invading our privacy but a program that has been used to help skilled editors and CGI experts is a looming fear?
The only problem that the government has with Deep Fakes is the freedom that comes with citizens learning how to dig deeper into mechanics that are easily accessible via computers and cellphones.
Kids have a the opportunity to gain technical knowledge that was not available 10 years ago. This type of advancement that teaches people how to code, edit, and use AI softwares in creative ways is something that this world needs.
You may think it’s hurting the credibility of facial recognition, but the development of Deep Fakes is still in the beta process so if anything, this software is simply just a learning tool that is disturbing but harmless.
