Deepfake UPSC Notes
Source: The Hindu
GS II: Science and Technology
Overview
- News in Brief
- What are deepfakes?
- What are the pros and cons of deepfakes?
- How India is fighting against deepfake misuse?
- Global efforts to stop deepfake misuse
Why in the News?
Terming deepfakes as a new threat to democracy, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said that the government will come up with new regulations soon to tackle deepfakes.
News in Brief
- The minister, who met social media platforms on the deepfake issue said that companies have agreed on the need for clear actionable work in areas.
- The areas such as detection, prevention, strengthening of reporting mechanism, and raising user awareness.
- Within ten days, it will come up with clear actionable items on the four mentioned above.
What are deepfakes?
- Deepfakes refer to realistic-looking, computer-generated videos or audio recordings that manipulate or replace the likeness and voice of a person with someone else’s.
- The term “deepfake” is a combination of “deep learning” and “fake.”
- Deep learning is a subset of artificial intelligence (AI).
- It involves training neural networks to perform image or speech recognition tasks.
What are technology used for creating Deepfakes?
- In the context of deepfakes, deep learning techniques, particularly generative models like Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), are used to create content that convincingly imitates the appearance and behaviour of real people.
- Deepfakes have gained attention due to their potential to deceive or manipulate viewers, as they can make it appear as if someone is saying or doing things they never did.
What are the pros and cons of deepfakes?
Pros of Deepfakes
- Entertainment Industry
- Deepfakes can be used for creative purposes in the entertainment industry.
- They enable realistic special effects, digital doubles for actors, and seamless dubbing.
- Education and Training
- Deepfakes can be used for educational and training purposes.
- For example, they can simulate realistic medical scenarios for training healthcare professionals.
- Accessibility
- Deepfake technology can make content creation more accessible.
- It allows for the generation of high-quality content without the need for expensive equipment or extensive resources.
- Personalized Content
- Deepfakes can be used to personalize content, such as creating customized videos for birthdays or special occasions.
Cons of Deepfakes
- Misinformation and Manipulation
- One of the major concerns is the potential for deepfakes to spread misinformation and manipulate public opinion.
- They can be used to create convincing fake videos of public figures saying or doing things they never did.
- Privacy Concerns
- Deepfake technology can be misused to create non-consensual explicit content or to impersonate individuals for malicious purposes, violating privacy rights.
- Security Risks
- Deepfakes raise security risks as they can be used for social engineering attacks, where attackers impersonate someone using manipulated videos or audio to gain access to sensitive information.
- Erosion of Trust
- The widespread use of deepfakes could erode trust in media and information sources, as people may become increasingly sceptical about the authenticity of audio and video content.
- Legal and Ethical Issues
- The use of deepfakes raises legal and ethical questions, particularly regarding issues of consent, defamation, and intellectual property.
- Regulations and legal frameworks are still evolving to address these concerns.
- Detection Challenges
- As deepfake technology advances, it becomes more challenging to detect manipulated content.
- This poses a significant challenge in the fight against the misuse of deepfakes.
How India is fighting against deepfake misuse?
- As of now, India does not have specific laws or regulations that ban or regulate the use of deepfake technology.
- Information Technology Act (2000)
- Sections 67: publishes or transmits or causes to be published or transmitted in the electronic form, any material to tend to deprave and corrupt persons punished on first conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years and with fine which may extend to five lakh rupees and in the event of second or subsequent conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years and also with fine which may extend to ten lakh rupees.
- Sections 67A: Publishes or transmits or causes to be published or transmitted in the electronic form any material which contains sexually explicit will be punished on first conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years and with fine which may extend to ten lakh rupees and in the event of second or subsequent conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years and also with fine which may extend to ten lakh rupees.
- India’s IT Rules, 2021 Says
- All content reported to be fake or produced using deep fake be taken down by intermediary platforms within 36 hours.
- Indian Penal Code
- Section 500 of the IPC provides punishment for defamation
- Section 292 of IPC obscene content
- Sections 465 forgery
- Sections 469 harming the reputation of a person
Recent Discussion by MEITY Ministry
- It is going to address the issue more swiftly
- The measures to be taken by social media advisors are
- Improving the detection of deepfakes
- Preventing them from spreading rapidly
- Improving the content reporting mechanism on social media
- The current timeline is 72 beyond which firms lose legal protections for such content
- Building greater awareness about deepfakes among the public
Global efforts to stop deepfake misuse
- United States Bipartisan Deepfake Task Force Act to counter the deepfake misuse.
- Comprehensive Regulation on Deep Synthesis introduced by China.
- European Union’s independent European network of fact-checkers to help analyze the sources and processes of content creation. Also subject to the upcoming EU AI Act, which will govern deepfake technology.
- Canada’s approach to deepfake regulation features a three-pronged strategy that includes prevention, detection, and response.
- South Korea passed a law that makes it illegal to distribute deepfakes that could cause harm to public interest with offenders facing up to five years in prison or fines of up to approximately 43,000 USD.
- The UK announced that deepfake regulation would be included in its much-anticipated mammoth Online Safety Bill.
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