This recent article (PA woman charged with using deepfakes to harass teenage cheerleaders) reminded me that even the love of a parent for a child can become unhealthy when the parent is willing to do anything for that child.
In this case, the mother created a series of deepfake videos to bully and harass girls in competition with her daughter in cheerleading. The mother sent disturbing voicemails and text messages to these girls and she even, “doctored videos taken from images on their [the girls] social media profiles and altered to make them appear nude, vaping, or drinking…The images and videos were also sent to coaches for the team, seemingly in an attempt to have the girls removed from the team.”
Using technology available online, just about anyone can create a deepfake image or video. How does a deepfake work? A still image can be inserted or layered over an existing video. Often the result shows a reasonable likeness that people will believe the deepfake is real.
In 2019, Virginia was the first state to adopt a law imposing criminal penalties for sexually-themed fakes and Texas banned deepfakes related to elections. California has laws for both examples. The federal government followed with the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (passed in December 2019).
This idea can be used in so many ways.
You can create a video to make it look like your signifcant other is cheating on you.
Or
Make it look like a government official is doing something illegal.
Or
Send a parent video of their teen doing something illegal or immoral.
Or
Create a video to frame someone to take the suspicion off of you.
Or
A courtroom drama trying to prove a deepfake and enforce the deepfake laws.
Are you looking for someone to bounce ideas off of or are you already working on a script and want to know how to make your story stand out compared to all the other ones? Contact me below.
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