A new web site has made it easy to remove clothing on women from just a single digital photo. The results are supposedly amazingly realistic. No special knowledge, hardware, or software is needed, just a web browser and photos cribbed from anywhere on the internetz or your own camera gallery. They can be done in bulk, for free, and easily shared.
I know HuffPo isn’t the most credible site, but the story details are corroborated on other news sites. This article also goes in the details of the referral program used by the site to gain popularity.
“This is a really, really bleak situation,” said U.K.-based deepfake expert Henry Ajder. “The realism has improved massively,” he added, noting that deepfake technology is typically weaponized against everyday women, not just celebrities and influencers.
This reminds me of when music file sharing became an issue. Previously, bootleg tapes were certainly around but it took time and a bit of money to make them. Selling them was not a cakewalk either. But with the ability to rip CDs in bulk and then share those files via Napster, the issue blew wide open, and action was taken.
Women aren’t MP3s, so the issue is a much more sensitive one. There can be real world consequences of nude photos, faked or not, shared out in the Wild Wild Web. Loss of jobs, relationships, and suicide.
Personally, I don’t understand the obsession with wanting to see women you know personally or random women naked that didn’t consent to it. There’s billions of photos and videos depicting nudity and/or porn that are freely available. Why the need to apply some technology to make every woman naked?
Regardless, I don’t know that any laws address this in a way meaningful to the average citizen. I know that revenge porn is targeted, but I don’t know that something like deepfake nudes fall into that category.
What are your thoughts? Is it harmful? Should it be legal, or criminalized? Is it a passing fad that will fade on its own? What would you do if you found a deepfake nude of yourself out in the wild?