Are Bangladeshi Laws Equipped To Deal With Deepfake?

Md Samiul Alam: This is the era of technology. Our day start with the aid of technology and end up with technology. No doubt technology is a blessing for humankind. It’s doing absolutely brilliant work for advancement of society. But, everything in this world have a negative side. Technology is not a different one. It has also some negativity. Some nasty people use technology in a wrong which is a curse for humankind. Deepfake is one of them. It’s a big threat for humankind nowadays.

Suppose, In a very nice day you sitting in your drawing room and browsing on internet suddenly you find yourself in a video. It’s very easy to deal. But, the thing which is not easy to deal you find yourself as a naked situation in the video. It’s not a easy to handle for you. But, you are not make any video like this. But the face, voice, tone, body movement everything same to same with you. How can it be possible? Who made this made? Yes, dear friends this is called Deep fake or Deep technology. In recent time, we see that by help of Photoshop app or similar type apps one can  copy a Picture. It was not possible to copy video, voice or body movement in past. But, now it is possible to copy someone voice, picture and body movement and make a video. It can be possible by the helps of Machine Learning.

What is deepfake?

Deepfakes are synthetic media in which a person in an existing image or video is replaced with someone else’s likeness. While the act of faking content is not new, deepfakes leverage powerful techniques from machine learning  and artificial intelligence  to manipulate or generate visual and audio content with a high potential to deceive. The main machine learning methods used to create deepfakes are based on deep learning and involve training generative neural network  architectures, such as autoencoders or Generative Adversarial Network  (GANs).

Deepfakes have garnered widespread attention for their uses in creating child sexual abuse material, celebrity pornographic video, revenge porn, fake news, hoaxes, bullying, and financial fraud. This has elicited responses from both industry and government to detect and limit their use.

How does deep fake work?

A deepfake is made using AI technologies. A program is trained to replace or synthesize faces, speech and manipulate emotions. It is used to imitate an action by a person that he or she did not commit.

So, it is clear that Deepfake are helpful for media and films industry. To create content and make cinema it can be a great tool.But,it use for make pornography, financial fraud, fake news, fake video, bullying etc. Sout is crystal clear that is a Technology with less advantage and huge disadvantage. It creates lots of big problem for humankind.

Conflict between Deepfake and Law

Law is not develop as fast as technology. There is a rapid growth of technology nowadays. But, the development of law is very slow. So, technology easily win the race. There is no specific law in Bangladesh which can deal with deepfake related crimes. But, we can take help from some others existing law to prevent this type of crime. I’ll discuss these laws later.

Infringement  of Copyright

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) draft issue paper on Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property. But, we can-not prevent deep fake by only means of copyright. Because, the victims are not the proprietress of these videos and pictures.  Section 72 of Bangladesh Copyright Act-2000 define certain act which are not infringement of copyright. This list are very long. Unfortunately, the the deepfake video or pictures creator has the copyright protection. Victims does not have the copyright protection. That’s why victim can not take any legal action against the deepfake video and pictures creator. So, it is clear that it is very tough to take legal action against the wrong doer by means of Copyright Law.

Defamation Law

There is another hope to take legal action against deepfake crime by means of defamation case. Though,In Bangladesh defamation use in a wrong way.

Section 499 of The Penal Code 1860 says-Whoever by words either spoken or intended to be read, or by signs or by visible representations, makes or published any imputation concerning any person intending to harm, or knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm, the reputation or such person, is said, except in the cases hereinafter excepted, to defame that person.

According to section 500 of Penal Code 1860 -Whoever defames another shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

But, In Bangladesh most of the defamation cases are filled only for harassment. That’s why the dismissal rate of defamation in lower court are very cheap. On the other hand, According to section 198 of The Criminal Procedure 1898 -any aggrieved person can filled a case of defamation. There is another law to prevent misuse of defamation  related crime. That is the Digital Security  Act-2018.But,this law cannot stopped the misuse of defamation crime. So, we need to make strong our defamation related laws.

Data protection law

It’s a harsh truth that we have no data privacy or any data protection laws. According to Article 33(b) of our Constitution every person has the right to privacy. If this right violated he/she can filled a case in High Court Division under Article 102(1).

According to section 7 of the The Right to Information Act 2009 every body has right to protect his data safely. No one will published his data. Any person or authorities have no right to get his data. We can use the provisions of The Digital Security Act 2018 to prevent the misuse of personal data. But, these provision are not sufficient.

Pornography Control Law

Most of the video which made by deepfake are pornography or revenge porn. In this case, Most of the victims are women. We can take help of The Pornography Control Act 2012.In section 8 of the Pornography Control Act, 2012 has scathingly restricted pornography with massive range of penalty. Under section 8 (1), any act capturing video or still pictures of sexual intercourse of  behavior exposing sexual sensation, with or without consent of parties, who are in sexual interaction, will be punishable with imprisonment maximum for 8 years and 2 lacs taka fine. Section 8(6) prescribes making porn video with minor is a major offense having penalty of 10 years in jail and 5 lacs taka fine.

Tort Law

Misuse of someone name, similarity, personality to achieve some financial advantage is related to Tort Law. But, unfortunately in Bangladesh use of tort law is very rare. The crime happened by deepfake is related to tort law. Victim can get compensation by use of tort law. So, we should apply tort law to get compensation regarding deepfake crime.

How Do I Protect Myself From Deepfake Attacks?

Unfortunately, there aren’t many foolproof strategies to prevent Deepfake attacks. Deepfake software requires very little to actually work. Chances are, if you are already active on any social media platform, your information is already out there. There are some simple tips to follow to reduce your chance of being a victim of a Deepfake attack.

Reduce Your Posts

Every time you share something on the internet, it is essentially there forever. Even if you block people from your profile or delete posts, traces of information remain. It’s a great idea to limit your social media posts.

While it is nice to let everyone know what you are up to, sharing hundreds of photos online makes you vulnerable to cyber-attacks. No one expects you to have zero pictures online in this day in age, but it’s a smart idea not to post excessively

Keep Accounts Private

If you still want to remain active on social media, consider limiting the reach of your posts. Although this is not a foolproof way to protect your photos, making your profile private is smart to keep your pictures between known individuals.

Don’t Trust Everything You See Only

Remember, just like people can steal photos and make fake profiles online, Deepfake programs allow scammers to take it a step further. Use good judgment before believing anything you see online.

Conclusion

Law does not develop as fast as technology. Presently, the technology law in Bangladesh is not enough to address the issues arising out of artificial intelligence algorithms.

Simultaneously, artificial intelligence algorithm should be developed to identify and block deepfakes that can be used by the appropriate platforms including and not limited to government authorities, social media and corporate giants.

Md Samiul Alam: Student; Department of Law, Northern University Bangladesh.