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Man who videotaped himself BASE jumping in Yosemite arrested, says it was AI
- onetokeoverthe 8mo ago>>A license plate reader detected his car entering the national park on Oct. 7 and leaving Oct. 8, This flock stuff is b.a.d.
- tjr 8mo agoMaybe AI was driving his car.
- eqvinox 8mo agoThe fact that this is simultaneously a joke yet also has to be realistically considered is… alarming.
- ultrarunner 8mo agoI'd probably be most inspired to make an AI video of doing something awesome in a national park just after having visited the park, too. They'll need a flock cam on the summit if they want to push that any further.
- iLemming 8mo agoIt's not even the fact that digital evidence is being used in courts these days, the disturbing thought is, all in all, that it's not that implausible for malicious actors to fake anyone's activity. How would you prove that you weren't at the crime scene when there's a digital footprint of your phone's GPS data, corroborated by (albeit not crystal clear) images and video?
- sorokod 8mo agoPlausible denAIbility
- rafram 8mo agoNoteworthy that he claimed that when talking to an investigator prior to being charged. We'll see if he's willing to make the same claim in court. (He's apparently representing himself...)
- arduanika 8mo agoThat tracks. BASE jumping and representing yourself share a common philosophy towards risk.
- ribosometronome 8mo ago>talking to an investigator prior to being charged Isn't lying to a federal investigator also a crime? Searching suggests 18 U.S.C. § 1001.
- joshstrange 8mo ago> Isn't lying to a federal investigator also a crime? It depends on how much money you have.
- nerdsniper 8mo agoYes. SCOTUS ruled very strictly on this in 1998. James Brogan was visited by Federal agents at his home and asked if he had accepted illegal cash payments from a company. Brogan simply answered "No." SCOTUS upheld his conviction for this under U.S.C. § 1001. His only legal options were to say “Yes” or state his choice to exercise his 5th amendment right to remain silent. Similar laws apply to interactions with pretty much any LEO in any US state, though the lie must be material to a criminal investigation. Note that some states make nearly everything a misdemeanor crime (like speeding 5mph over the limit) whereas other states make many of those things civil infractions.
- nextaccountic 8mo agoNote that police can lie to you without consequence Really the only reasonable thing to do is to never talk to police https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE
- munk-a 8mo agoGosh there's a lot of corollary evidence pointing to his guilt but this is likely going to become more and more common and force the use of a lot more technical forensic resources. Finding an original copy on a go-pro would likely be pretty compelling evidence but this (and the more scary politically centered questions like this) are why I wish we had a way to build a durable chain of custody into these technologies. It is infeasible from everything I've seen but it would be a big win for society.
- dmitrygr 8mo ago> I wish we had a way to build a durable chain of custody into these technologies Do you? Consider for a moment all the dissidents and protestors who would be ensnared by their own devices then, with no "it was all ai" defense available?
- munk-a 8mo agoI do - I think the videos and pictures that protestors smuggle out become less powerful if the state can dismiss them as fake and while most of us will remain skeptical of authority the more easy it is to fake something the more people you can convince of your falsehood. I don't think the lack of a durable chain of custody really provides any protection - that protection needs to come from a strong legal system and social contract to protect whistleblowers. If you're thinking of, as an example, an Iranian smuggling out protest footage, they're already taking an extreme risk and have a state using numerous tools to try and track them down - but the lack of a durable chain gives a wide area of authorities to cast doubt on the truth. I think your question is interesting to ponder and I think there are arguments in both directions - but my mind keeps coming back to the tank man photo being smuggled out of China and how much more difficult it would be in the modern world for a single image to carry such weight.
- eqvinox 8mo ago> I don't think the lack of a durable chain of custody really provides any protection - that protection needs to come from a strong legal system and social contract to protect whistleblowers. That social contract is quite a bit of a hit&miss if you look at countries across the globe. Same for the strong legal system. Other concerns aside, does this not make the whole approach a non-starter?
- RobotToaster 8mo agoWhy the hell is based jumping illegal?
- tredre3 8mo agoBecause it's very dangerous and first responders access in national parks isn't always easy. You can obtain a permit to do it, however, see this memo that summarizes the current situation: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/policy/upload/NPS_Guidance_Memo_BASE_Jumping.pdf https://www.nps.gov/subjects/policy/upload/NPS_Guidance_Memo...
- al_borland 8mo agoIt seems danger and first responder access would also be a problem for free solo climbing, yet that gets a pass.
- Der_Einzige 8mo agoMaybe just refuse to try to help them? Why can't we let people win darwin awards anymore instead of criminalizing it? The people doing this are adrenaline junkies who often would LOVE to die this way if they had to. That's why they are doing it. For similar reasons, suicide should not be criminalized. Yes I am serious. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_die https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_die
- mikkupikku 8mo agoIf they're doing it anyway, then why bother making it legal? Just to attract more people who might otherwise be dissuaded?
- base698 8mo agoThe legal history is a bit more complex. TLDR: assholes that were BASE jumping in Yosemite in the early 1980s did things like throw burning barrels off the top of El Capitan and take trucks on trails not designed for vehicle traffic. Comparing the number of BASE jumpers (small thousands) and the number of hikers and climbers (millions) BASE jumpers just can't have the political influence for access. Random note, Brendan Weinstein who posted here on occasion recently died BASE jumping: https://www.reddit.com/r/SkyDiving/comments/1q6n7v2/brendan_weinstein_of_basebeta_and_base_access_has/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SkyDiving/comments/1q6n7v2/brendan_...
- schaefer 8mo agoThere are lots of places to legally BASE jump in Europe. You can even take a gondola to the jump point. But very very few legal options in the USA. I wish there were more places to legally enjoy BASE jumping on US public lands.
- mikelitoris 8mo agoThey don’t want to deal with the liability lawsuits.
- _qua 8mo agoWould there be liability lawsuits for this happening on public land? Might it be more a matter of them not wanting to do body clean up once a week?
- etrautmann 8mo agothere aren't that many accidents. It's also more dangerous to jump in ways that attempt to skirt laws (jumping near dark, trying to evade capture, etc)
- schaefer 8mo agoI’m convinced this is how Dean Potter died. Jumping at dusk to try to evade capture my Yosemite rangers. If it had been legal, and had he jumped in broad daylight, I think he’d have survived that day.
- kjs3 8mo agoIf it had been legal, and had he jumped in broad daylight, I think he’d have survived that day. Right. It's the Park Service to blame. Right there with the "it's the cops fault I crashed and burned because if driving 140mph was legal I would be fine".
- al_borland 8mo ago
- keysersoze33 8mo agoAnyone who base jumps with a bulky videotape recorder instead of GoPro deserves to arrested ;)
- wasmainiac 8mo agoDo you have a link? Dudes got class.
- keysersoze33 8mo agoI'm sure it was a GoPro - was mocking the journalist's use of the Ye olde term 'videotaped'
- wasmainiac 8mo agoHaha, that’s kinda dated. Still I’d love to see a vhs camcorder strapped to someone’s head.
- simonw 8mo agoIf it "was AI" it should be easy enough for him to prove by pulling up his account on whatever AI video generation service he used and showing the generation in his account history. (I do not think it was AI.)
- cheeze 8mo agoI don't think it was AI either but I don't think that would hold up in court.
- Sharlin 8mo agoMaybe he did it with a local model! (Yeah, me neither.)
- dragonwriter 8mo agoThat would also be easy to demonstrate, if true.
- deleted 8mo ago[deleted]
- Devasta 8mo agoWe have to plan for this to become more common in future. You trying to start a union in your workplace? Expect video of you jacking off in public to leak online. Video of cop mercilessly beating a black guy? Inadmissible, could have been AI. It will only get worse as video and audio generation get better and better.
- moralestapia 8mo agoOof. Risky move. If the prosecution can prove it was legit, that's prison for sure.
- beached_whale 8mo agolying to federal officers is what nailed Martha Stewart
- LexGray 8mo agoI am sure prosecutors have AI expert witnesses on speed dial. Would probably testify under oath they ran it through their own AI analysis and it came back as not AI. Even public defenders don’t bother with their own expert witnesses, much less a guy representing himself.
- moralestapia 8mo agoFrom another linked article: "Those who are caught and cited in Yosemite face fines up to $5,000." What an absolute moron, he turned a $5,000 fine (worst case) into two years of prison.
- Mooshux 8mo ago[flagged]
- zamadatix 8mo agohttps://archive.is/tfznK https://archive.is/tfznK
- Xmd5a 8mo ago[flagged]
- jfengel 8mo agoWas it legitimately his instagram account that posted the video? If it was a brand new account, then it seems possible that it's a fake. But if somebody also had to hack his account to make this video... I suppose it's not impossible but you'd really, really be pushing "reasonable doubt" to it's limits.