{"id":17449,"date":"2020-01-15T10:10:19","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T18:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2020\/01\/15\/news-11185\/"},"modified":"2020-01-15T10:10:19","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T18:10:19","slug":"news-11185","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2020\/01\/15\/news-11185\/","title":{"rendered":"Rules on deepfakes take hold in the US"},"content":{"rendered":"

Credit to Author: David Ruiz| Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2020 16:59:33 +0000<\/strong><\/p>\n

For years, an annual, must-pass federal spending bill has served as a vehicle for minor or contentious provisions that might otherwise falter in standalone legislation, such as the prohibition of new service member uniforms, or the indefinite detainment of individuals without trial. <\/p>\n

In 2019, that federal spending bill, called the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), once again included provisions separate from the predictable allocation of Department of Defense funds. This time, the NDAA included language on deepfakes<\/a>, the machine-learning technology that, with some human effort, has created fraudulent videos of UK political opponents Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn endorsing one another for Prime Minister<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Matthew F. Ferraro, a senior associate at the law firm WilmerHale who advises clients on national security, cyber security, and crisis management, called the deepfakes provisions a \u201cfirst.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first federal legislation on deepfakes in the history of the world,\u201d Ferraro said about the NDAA, which was signed by the President into law on December 20, 2019. <\/p>\n

But rather than creating new policies or crimes regarding deepfakes\u2014like making it illegal to develop or distribute them\u2014the NDAA asks for a better understanding of the burgeoning technology. It asks for reports and notifications to Congress. <\/p>\n

Per the NDAA\u2019s new rules, the US Director of National Intelligence must, within 180 days, submit a report to Congress that provides information on the potential national security threat that deepfakes pose, along with the capabilities of foreign governments to use deepfakes in US-targeted disinformation campaigns, and what countermeasures the US currently has or plans to develop. <\/p>\n

Further, the Director of National Intelligence must notify Congress each time a foreign government either has, is currently, or plans to launch a disinformation campaign using deepfakes of \u201cmachine-generated text,\u201d like that produced by online bots that impersonate humans. <\/p>\n

Lee Tien, senior staff attorney for Electronic Frontier Foundation, said that, with any luck, the DNI report could help craft future, informed policy. Whether Congress will actually write any legislation based on the DNI report\u2019s information, however, is a separate matter. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou can lead a horse to water,\u201d Tien said, \u201cbut you can\u2019t necessarily make them drink.\u201d <\/p>\n

With the NDAA’s passage, Malwarebytes is starting a two-part blog on deepfake legislation in the United States. Next week we will explore several Congressional and stateside bills in further depth. <\/p>\n

The National Defense Authorization Act<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The National Defense Authorization Act of 2020<\/a> is a sprawling, 1,000-plus page bill that includes just two sections on deepfakes. The sections set up reports, notifications, and a deepfakes \u201cprize\u201d for research in the field. <\/p>\n

According to the first section, the country\u2019s Director of National Intelligence must submit an unclassified report to Congress within 180 days that covers the \u201cpotential national security impacts of machine manipulated media (commonly known as \u201cdeepfakes\u201d); and the actual or potential use of machine-manipulated media by foreign governments to spread disinformation or engage in other malign activities.\u201d <\/p>\n

The report must include the following seven items:<\/p>\n