A copyright on faces and voices for combat deepfakes | ABC Radio National

Key Concepts:

• Deep fakes (visual, audio, text-based)
• Biometric identity
• Copyright law
• Personal right of control/ownership
• Enforcement challenges

Deep Fakes: Types and Risks

The video addresses the growing concern of deep fakes and their potential impact on individuals and society. Deep fakes are categorized into three main types:

• Visual Deep Fakes: These involve digitally altered images or videos of people, often used in scams or political misinformation. The altered content depicts individuals doing things they never actually did.
• Audio Deep Fakes: These utilize AI to clone a person's voice and generate realistic-sounding speech. This can be used to create fake audio recordings of individuals saying things they never said.
• Text-Based Deep Fakes: These mimic a person's writing style and opinions, potentially used to spread misinformation or impersonate someone online.

Denmark's Proposed Solution: Copyrighting Biometric Identity

Denmark is taking a proactive approach to combatting deep fakes by proposing new laws that would grant individuals copyright protection over their facial features and voice.

• Legal Ownership: According to Dr. Teimo Minsson, a professor of law at the University of Copenhagen, these laws would establish a legal ownership of one's biometric identity, similar to how an artist owns a song or a writer owns a book.
• Personal Right of Control: This approach creates a "personal right of control or ownership" that can be enforced in a civil court. This means individuals could sue those who create and use deep fakes of them without their consent.
• First of its Kind: These laws would be the first in the world to explicitly protect voice and facial features under copyright.

Enforcement Challenges and Considerations

While Denmark's approach is innovative, the video acknowledges potential enforcement challenges.

• International Applicability: The copyright laws may be difficult to enforce in countries where similar laws do not exist. This raises questions about how to address deep fakes that originate or are distributed in other jurisdictions.

Conclusion

The video highlights the increasing threat of deep fakes and Denmark's attempt to address the issue by granting individuals copyright over their biometric identity. This approach aims to empower individuals to control their image and voice and seek legal recourse against those who misuse them. However, the video also acknowledges the potential challenges in enforcing these laws internationally. The video ends by posing the question of whether copyrighting one's image is a good idea.