Articles

Do You Have Your Anti-Deepfake Protocol Ready?

Do You Have Your Anti-Deepfake Protocol Ready?

This question may seem to be a cause for concern for companies and, in a wider sense, corporations (since protocols are more crucial to corporate quality standards). However, when it comes to quality of life, individuals may soon have to ask the same question. You must have a protocol—even if not on paper—on how to act properly against foreseeable risks so as to preserve your quality of life. Most of the time, we know instinctively what to do in the event an elderly relative has a health problem, or your wife is going through pregnancy, or a relative has an accident or is dealing with a problem. But, are you ready for the greatest cyber-security risk of the era? Protocols …

Why We Must Provide Our Own Security in the Wild West of Deepfakes?

Why We Must Provide Our Own Security in the Wild West of Deepfakes?

Everyone everywhere is as familiar with the Wild West as they are with Wild Capitalism. Some know these precarious lands from history books, but most have learned about them in Hollywood Westerns. Although there is a sheriff in town, everyone must provide their own security. Danger could come from any direction. A knock on your door could be violent felons wanting your horses, or savage Native Americans whose lands you are after. Also, psychopathic killers and perverts run rampant on those vast desolate mountains and hills. Neither homes nor trails are safe. You can lay down the law so long as you are tough enough to bring someone to their knees. That is why no-one walks around without a pistol …

Deepfake: Infodemic Spread Through Disinformation and Misinformation is More Fatal than the Pandemic

Infodemic Spread Through Disinformation and Misinformation is More Fatal than the Pandemic

We had barely become accustomed to the idea of a pandemic before an onslaught of new terms took over our lives on the online world and social media. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that it was fighting not only the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic but also the infodemic: “Trust reliable news sources, not social media content,” it warned. The global outbreak, or the pandemic as it is called, shook us to the core. We have become familiar with the notion of an infodemic, meaning “disinformation of global information and news” on social media. COVID-19 is the first social-media-borne infodemic. No other fictitious/false wave of information or news has reached such a global scale before. The efforts of the WHO, in …

Can You Expose Deepfakes On Zoom?

Can You Expose Deepfakes On Zoom?

“Life under quarantine” brought on by the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation. The video conference app Zoom has largely replaced face-to-face meetings. Now there is one more thing that the world has to deal with: zoombombing! This may only be a foreshock. In the previous article, we raised the question, “Are you really meeting with the person you think you are meeting with on Zoom?” So, what happens if they are not the person you think you are talking to? What if the real tremors are still impending on Zoom? A security issue was bound to ensue once the number of Zoom users increased twenty-fold in three months. Zoombombing attacks, or Zoom raids, by uninvited guests …

Deepfake: The Art Of Twisting The Facts

The Art Of Twisting The Facts

A contradiction in terms creates ambiguity in perception. One word may carry a positive meaning for some, while implying something completely negative to others. The word fight may be understood as a struggle toward a righteous goal, or as the use of violence and force to subdue someone. Does dream mean the beginning of a path to something better or the pursuit of false hope with a flight from reality? Today, deepfake strives to grow into a digital art form with transparent and lawful examples when, in fact, it is perceived as a huge cyber-threat in the online world. Developers who use deepfake artworks not to attack someone but to trick audiences by evoking admiration are regarded as deepfake artists …

Can Facebook’s Ban On Deepfakes Prevent Disinformation?

Facebook appears to be leading the global social media fight against the deepfake threat. Facebook initiated a Deepfake Detection Challenge (DFDC) organization with a $10-million award to promote the development of a tool that can detect manipulated synthetic media. It also announced that it would remove the artificial intelligence-based deepfake media content that poses a threat of disinformation. This may be considered a temporary and limited response. It may also be viewed as a conspicuous action against the great and imminent cyber-threat. Still, the question remains: Are Facebook’s measures, as well as Instagram’s, sufficient to slow the speed of fake media that aims to form a false public opinion? It has become a joke in the US media. The press …

Deepfake Inspires Art: Surrealism Out, Unrealism In!

Deepfake Inspires Art: Surrealism Out, Unrealism In!

“Art for art’s sake, or art for society’s sake?” has been a long-standing clich of art sociology and philosophy. The proponents of “art for art’s sake” must be dwindling in numbers. Otherwise, it would not have been so easy for deepfake the greatest danger to the values of societya to creep into art. Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso, pioneers and masters of surreal art, could not have imagined that one day a movement, more radical than theirs, would eclipse them, sui generis men who did not care for the prevailing definition of realism in their journey through genius and insanity. The deepfake storm has already captivated the art world, which may be losing its seat to technology. Surrealism is outpaced …

When A Deepfake Troller Becomes A Phenomenon

The standard definition of a phenomenon is “something or someone that attracts attention and admiration exceptional enough to create an emotional bond.” Undoubtedly, the making of an online phenomenon, especially on social media, is measured by its number of followers. Trolls loom as the agitators, troublemakers, and manipulation experts of the online world. While phenomena emanate a powerful magnetic field from a single source, trolls fire machine guns at certain targets to expand their gravitational field. It takes only one account to become a phenomenon, whereas trolls more often require multiple fake accounts to feed their appetite for chaos. No phenomenon, even with its hundreds of thousands of followers, could be considered saintly. Such fame inevitably comes with an ethical …

Influencers Grow An Appetite For Computer-Built Deepfake Models

Influencers Grow An Appetite For Computer-Built Deepfake Models

Just like consumerism, marketing knows no bounds, especially in the information technology industry where consumer preferences can change with blinding speed. There is no need to go as far back as CD-ROMs or DVDs; in the era of cloud, even flash disks and hard disks seem to be going out of fashion.  Is the consumerism extravaganza the result of the speed in which technology develops new products, or is insatiable consumerism the driving force behind those who develop new technologies? This is an example of the chicken and egg question. The biggest job falls on marketing ingenuity. They need to know both the consumer and the market, as well as the technology and the product. Who are they going to …

Deepfake May Give You Cancer Either Way

“Deepfake may give you cancer!” With such a headline, you might not bother reading the rest of the article. You might reduce the message of the article to, “If a false perception about you gets out through a phony video, you will be wrecked to the point that even your immune system may collapse.” We already know that such a risk exists in the not-so-distant future for people who have obsessive enemies or competition, and enjoy some level of fame, wealth, and reputation. The emotional and physical toll that a deepfake takes on someone could eventually give them cancer. Although it may seem pointless to write an article about this to those who already know what deepfake may bring on …