7 ms·

Deepfakes weaponised to target Pakistan's women leaders

74 points by mostcallmeyt 2y ago

vouaobrasil 2y ago
[flagged]
- Ylpertnodi 2y ago
  Sounds like one of those dead people that didn't want people to read.
xhevahir 2y ago
They say that "media literacy is poor" in Pakistan but it's not at all clear that education would solve the problem. We've seen in more "media-literate" countries a free-floating distrust of media of all kinds that is exacerbated by the keener awareness of deceptive techniques. Niklas Luhmann has written about this "suspicion of manipulation:" https://monoskop.org/images/6/6c/Luhmann_Niklas_The_Reality_of_the_Mass_Media.pdf https://monoskop.org/images/6/6c/Luhmann_Niklas_The_Reality_...
- chii 2y ago
  The fact that advertising works, despite many claiming they're not susceptible to it, is good evidence that media manipulation works amazingly well - even to people who think they understand and would not be manipulated.
  - renox 2y ago
    OTOH there also the saying that there's no bad publicity.. So it's not so obvious!
abdullahkhalids 2y ago
While the main fact of this story (that deepfakes were created) is true, the article overall seems like a propaganda piece by a highly unpopular government to create a soft image. Ignore the other stuff in the article.
- alephnerd 2y ago
  My gut says it's probably being used as an argument to deflect from the rollout of a China style Great Firewall.
alephnerd 2y ago
Deepfakes are being weaponized against all politicians in Pakistan - not just women. FYI, Pakistan is also in the process of releasing it's version of China's Great Firewall and has heavily leveraged the "AI Safety" argument for that [0][1]. Also, it's quite rich that a PMLN minister in Punjab is complaining about electoral safety when her party viciously cracked down on the PTI. [0] - https://tribune.com.pk/story/2467727/rs20b-sought-to-boost-cybersecurity-regulate-social-media https://tribune.com.pk/story/2467727/rs20b-sought-to-boost-c... [1] - https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Telecommunication/Pakistan-installs-firewall-in-censorship-drive-hitting-businesses https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Telecommunication/Pakistan-...
- selimthegrim 2y ago
  There was one that got assassinated a few years back.
isr 2y ago
Just FYI, to those not in Pakistan who might not be aware. The minister mentioned in the article (yes, deepfakes are a form of sexual criminality!), is a direct underling of another female chief minister (who won despite her party receiving less than 20% of the votes - yay military rigging) who ... get this ... runs an extortion ring where 100s of judges, politicians etc are honey trapped & copious videos are made. She (& her husband) have OPENLY bragged about this, FOR YEARS. 1 judge (whose video was released by her team) committed suicide 3 years ago. The rest of the judges all toe the line (hence the laughable "lawfare" vs Imran Khan). She makes J Edgar Hoover seem like a novice. Just keep that in mind ...
- isr 2y ago
  A few brave souls (eg Senator Swati) have openly admitted to this attempted blackmail (his was an explosive, tearful press conference 3 years ago). She even does it to the military top brass, and they do it to her & her goons. In short, they're all low-rent garbage, so save your tears for the more worthwhile 1000s of political prisoners (MANY of whom are female) of this military-led, crime-family infested, American State Dept sponsored gang of thieves & cutthroats (eg: witness recent Islamabad massacre, helpfully ignored by the mainstream US media)
  - selimthegrim 2y ago
    If the state dept threw out IK that was wrong, but why has everyone forgotten IK begging the “umpires” to throw govt out when he was out of power before elected (with some help) the first time.
- nox101 2y ago
  deepfakes are not a form of sexual criminality. Gees Thought Police here we come!
  - zamadatix 2y ago
    Whether deepfakes are or are not a form of sexual criminality is an absolute based on the jurisdiction. Either it is a crime there or it isn't. That's independent of whether or not individuals or the population agree it should be, whether it's moral, whether it's seen as overreaching, or any other consideration beyond what the law there says.
_-_-__-_-_- 2y ago
I would say creating sexual, pornographic or depicting criminal acts with AI generated images and videos using photographs and media of a person without their consent is morally wrong. It will however, only get easier to create and manipulate images. It is going to become automatic and the barriers to entry will be reduced. The social default will be to assume that everything is a AI generated or manipulated. It will not matter if the content is real.
- para_parolu 2y ago
  We basically get back to pre-photo era, when all you access your information based on credibility of messenger.
  - chii 2y ago
    or for photos, only film evidence can be admitted. Digital content (or even digitized content, unless there's a film backup), is inadmissable.
    - estebank 2y ago
      Making film backed images from edited digital pictures is not beyond the ability of a motivated individual, let alone a state entity. Even something as rudimentary as a film camera pointed at a slightly out of focus 4k screen can be made believable, specially in a film stock with heavy grain.
      - chii 2y ago
        I guess if you have enough resources, faking something is possible. But making it expensive means fewer people could do it. The advent of ai and ease of doing so is what is dangerous. Perhaps images taken in the future by digital cameras need to come with an IR depth map as well, which would make it harder to fake.
        burnerthrow008 2y ago
DiscourseFan 2y ago
The day I see a believable deepfake of myself doing strange sexual acts is the day that I will stop caring what people think of my sexuality
- tgv 2y ago
  Also if these people would amass outside your house and demand you'd be tried for blasphemy? Or would just try to kill you? E.g. Pakistan, women, religion and sexuality is a heady mix. Not everybody has the luxury of not caring. I would also like to point out again that people still developing and productizing deepfake software or tools that underpin them, should take the morally only correct path and stop, and retract their work. It's a considerable net negative on society.
  - DiscourseFan 2y ago
    >Also if these people would amass outside your house and demand you'd be tried for blasphemy? Or would just try to kill you? E.g. Pakistan, women, religion and sexuality is a heady mix. Not everybody has the luxury of not caring. Hard to do if its happening to everyone
    - chgs 2y ago
      But it’s not, it’s targetted.
      - DiscourseFan 2y ago
        So? If its use becomes widespread it won't matter.

74 points by mostcallmeyt 2y ago

vouaobrasil 2y ago

[flagged]

Ylpertnodi 2y ago
Sounds like one of those dead people that didn't want people to read.

xhevahir 2y ago

They say that "media literacy is poor" in Pakistan but it's not at all clear that education would solve the problem. We've seen in more "media-literate" countries a free-floating distrust of media of all kinds that is exacerbated by the keener awareness of deceptive techniques. Niklas Luhmann has written about this "suspicion of manipulation:" https://monoskop.org/images/6/6c/Luhmann_Niklas_The_Reality_of_the_Mass_Media.pdf https://monoskop.org/images/6/6c/Luhmann_Niklas_The_Reality_...

chii 2y ago
The fact that advertising works, despite many claiming they're not susceptible to it, is good evidence that media manipulation works amazingly well - even to people who think they understand and would not be manipulated.
- renox 2y ago
  OTOH there also the saying that there's no bad publicity.. So it's not so obvious!

abdullahkhalids 2y ago

While the main fact of this story (that deepfakes were created) is true, the article overall seems like a propaganda piece by a highly unpopular government to create a soft image. Ignore the other stuff in the article.

alephnerd 2y ago
My gut says it's probably being used as an argument to deflect from the rollout of a China style Great Firewall.

alephnerd 2y ago

Deepfakes are being weaponized against all politicians in Pakistan - not just women. FYI, Pakistan is also in the process of releasing it's version of China's Great Firewall and has heavily leveraged the "AI Safety" argument for that [0][1]. Also, it's quite rich that a PMLN minister in Punjab is complaining about electoral safety when her party viciously cracked down on the PTI. [0] - https://tribune.com.pk/story/2467727/rs20b-sought-to-boost-cybersecurity-regulate-social-media https://tribune.com.pk/story/2467727/rs20b-sought-to-boost-c... [1] - https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Telecommunication/Pakistan-installs-firewall-in-censorship-drive-hitting-businesses https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Telecommunication/Pakistan-...

selimthegrim 2y ago
There was one that got assassinated a few years back.

isr 2y ago

Just FYI, to those not in Pakistan who might not be aware. The minister mentioned in the article (yes, deepfakes are a form of sexual criminality!), is a direct underling of another female chief minister (who won despite her party receiving less than 20% of the votes - yay military rigging) who ... get this ... runs an extortion ring where 100s of judges, politicians etc are honey trapped & copious videos are made. She (& her husband) have OPENLY bragged about this, FOR YEARS. 1 judge (whose video was released by her team) committed suicide 3 years ago. The rest of the judges all toe the line (hence the laughable "lawfare" vs Imran Khan). She makes J Edgar Hoover seem like a novice. Just keep that in mind ...

isr 2y ago
A few brave souls (eg Senator Swati) have openly admitted to this attempted blackmail (his was an explosive, tearful press conference 3 years ago). She even does it to the military top brass, and they do it to her & her goons. In short, they're all low-rent garbage, so save your tears for the more worthwhile 1000s of political prisoners (MANY of whom are female) of this military-led, crime-family infested, American State Dept sponsored gang of thieves & cutthroats (eg: witness recent Islamabad massacre, helpfully ignored by the mainstream US media)
- selimthegrim 2y ago
  If the state dept threw out IK that was wrong, but why has everyone forgotten IK begging the “umpires” to throw govt out when he was out of power before elected (with some help) the first time.
nox101 2y ago
deepfakes are not a form of sexual criminality. Gees Thought Police here we come!
- zamadatix 2y ago
  Whether deepfakes are or are not a form of sexual criminality is an absolute based on the jurisdiction. Either it is a crime there or it isn't. That's independent of whether or not individuals or the population agree it should be, whether it's moral, whether it's seen as overreaching, or any other consideration beyond what the law there says.

_-_-__-_-_- 2y ago

I would say creating sexual, pornographic or depicting criminal acts with AI generated images and videos using photographs and media of a person without their consent is morally wrong. It will however, only get easier to create and manipulate images. It is going to become automatic and the barriers to entry will be reduced. The social default will be to assume that everything is a AI generated or manipulated. It will not matter if the content is real.

para_parolu 2y ago
We basically get back to pre-photo era, when all you access your information based on credibility of messenger.
- chii 2y ago
  or for photos, only film evidence can be admitted. Digital content (or even digitized content, unless there's a film backup), is inadmissable.
  - estebank 2y ago
    Making film backed images from edited digital pictures is not beyond the ability of a motivated individual, let alone a state entity. Even something as rudimentary as a film camera pointed at a slightly out of focus 4k screen can be made believable, specially in a film stock with heavy grain.
    - chii 2y ago
      I guess if you have enough resources, faking something is possible. But making it expensive means fewer people could do it. The advent of ai and ease of doing so is what is dangerous. Perhaps images taken in the future by digital cameras need to come with an IR depth map as well, which would make it harder to fake.
      - burnerthrow008 2y ago

DiscourseFan 2y ago

The day I see a believable deepfake of myself doing strange sexual acts is the day that I will stop caring what people think of my sexuality

tgv 2y ago
Also if these people would amass outside your house and demand you'd be tried for blasphemy? Or would just try to kill you? E.g. Pakistan, women, religion and sexuality is a heady mix. Not everybody has the luxury of not caring. I would also like to point out again that people still developing and productizing deepfake software or tools that underpin them, should take the morally only correct path and stop, and retract their work. It's a considerable net negative on society.
- DiscourseFan 2y ago
  >Also if these people would amass outside your house and demand you'd be tried for blasphemy? Or would just try to kill you? E.g. Pakistan, women, religion and sexuality is a heady mix. Not everybody has the luxury of not caring. Hard to do if its happening to everyone
  - chgs 2y ago
    But it’s not, it’s targetted.
    - DiscourseFan 2y ago
      So? If its use becomes widespread it won't matter.