# Proof of life? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 21, 2021, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-of-life/940483 "2021-04-21T22:13:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-of-life/940483/1 "2021-04-21T22:13:15Z")
There are always stories, for example the recent account of a [wayward princess who was black-bagged](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-56820707), where someone demands proof that the kidnap victim is still alive. I wonder, short of producing the person, what proof, if any, would be convincing? A written statement? A video of them reading the morning newspaper? Could be faked. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-of-life/940483/2 "2021-04-21T22:17:44Z")
Can voice prints be faked with a computer? If not, you could have the captive read the headlines from today’s paper. The voice print comparison would prove their identity (assuming you had an earlier recording to compare it to) and the material being read would prove the time when it was made. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-of-life/940483/3 "2021-04-21T22:26:23Z")
Of course it is possible to fake voice prints with a computer. I do not know what is the state of the art, but for example [this story](https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5xvk7/researchers-created-a-way-to-make-realistic-deepfakes-from-audio-clips) dated January 24, 2020 says > In an online poll of 100 participants conducted by the researchers, 55 percent of generated videos were rated as “real.” It is probably still not trivial to fool UN experts with a fake video cobbled together in only a couple of hours [also NB distinguishing real camera footage from CGI is also a thing]. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-of-life/940483/4 "2021-04-21T22:46:49Z")
These computer-generated fakes are good enough to fool a human listener. But can they stand up to a technological analysis? I think (although I’ll admit I’m not sure) a good analysis would detect the splices in the recording. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-of-life/940483/5 "2021-04-21T22:54:27Z")
Short of a live phone call or videocall, I don’t see how it could be proven. And the victim’s family would ideally ask questions that only the victim could answer convincingly and the captors couldn’t fake. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-of-life/940483/6 "2021-04-22T03:37:47Z")
A couple of days ago I watched the Denzel Washington movie, _Man on Fire_. His character, seeking to prove that a kidnapped child is alive, asks the kidnapper to ask her the name of her teddy bear. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-of-life/940483/7 "2021-04-22T03:58:14Z")
A live, but non-interactive video would probably be sufficient. They could put a TV in the background tuned to CNN or whatever. It would be tough to fake this in real-time without giveaways. Not that an interactive live stream is that hard to pull off. Just use Twitch or some other streaming service via VPN. Pretty much untraceable as long as the criminals aren’t dumb enough to put something obvious in the background. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-of-life/940483/8 "2021-04-22T08:58:07Z")
I mean, if you have access to the victim’s DNA, a nice fresh ear or finger would prove they have been alive within the past x hours - I assume it would be relatively simple to determine if the tissue had been frozen or cold stored. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-of-life/940483/9 "2021-04-22T12:22:03Z")
Have them send an e-mail from their personal account, or add Gone With the Wind to their Amazon shopping cart, or something where they need to log in with a password. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-of-life/940483/10 "2021-04-22T13:38:40Z")
I like the live video idea better. No reason to assume a person’s e-mail can’t be compromised, and there are known cases of killers sending messages from their murder victim’s phone. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-of-life/940483/11 "2021-04-22T13:45:21Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I mean, if you have access to the victim’s DNA, a nice fresh ear or finger would prove they have been alive within the past x hours Pfftt. A finger? I can get you a finger by 3 o’clock this afternoon.