Russia Could Unleash Fake Videos During Election, Schiff Says

[mzmolly]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/04/us/politics/russia-election-hacking.html

WASHINGTON — The Russian government is likely to try to influence the 2020 presidential election, not through the release of stolen emails and other documents but through faked videos, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said on Tuesday.

The United States has become adept at quickly identifying the perpetrators of so-called hacking and dumping operations that result in the release of potentially damaging material, increasing the risk for Moscow that Washington will respond, said Representative Adam B. Schiff, the California Democrat who leads the committee.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, emails and documents were stolen by Russian hackers from the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign and then released publicly, influencing the presidential race.

“The Russians may feel if they are too overt about it, the risk of blowback is simply too great,” Mr. Schiff said at the Council on Foreign Relations. “But there are other ways to have potentially even bigger impact than hacking and dumping.”

Mr. Schiff said he was particularly worried about the effect of falsified videos, known as deep fakes. Such videos could be easily introduced into social media, where they will spread rapidly.

Without mentioning specifics, it would appear this has happened. Ugh.

[58Sunliner]

1. Uh, apparently they could hack vote totals.

[mzmolly]

2. Yes. This is why paper ballots

are important.

[Initech]

3. At this point they're not changing anyone's minds.

Nice try Vlad, but Trump is getting fired on November 3rd!

[Stallion]

4. Plus Hopefully 80% of the Democratic Vote Will be in the Bank

[mzmolly]

5. I hope

not.

Such strange times.

[AlexSFCA]

6. the most important is to vote early

if we don’t have the needed turnout before nov.3, the risk is enormous. anything can happen on election day.

[ansible]

7. Could? They already ARE out

Can't post links but several videos purported to be Hunter having sex with chinese prostitutes just got leaked

[mzmolly]

11. Right.

Insane.

They're adding their own mythical characters to the videos, as they go.

[marble falls]

13. Nah.

[foo_fighter999]

8. Without a doubt.

So glad that Schiff is on this. As always, he is on top of things and is 100% correct. AI and ML are being leveraged to create deep fake videos, audio, personas, and, believe it or not, biometrics (e.g., that fingerprint detector you use to log into your phone, laptop. etc.). As the technology advances, the deep fakes will only get better.

From the link:

In the next election, accentuating those divisions — more than electing a particular candidate — could well be the goal, said Jon B. Alterman, a global security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“The core paradox is the Russians are less interested in specific outcomes than they are in bending the nature of political discourse in the United States,” he said. “They have a mood of internal turmoil that they want to foment.”

Exactly. These groups have been using social media to sew discord for quite some time now. Deep fakes that appear convincingly realistic just make things worse. That said, they don't even need to be all that realistic as, used in conjunction with psyops, the deep fakes are constructed to reinforce beliefs that are already held by the target groups. As such, they are more readily accepted and they are less likely to be scrutinized closely or have their legitimacy questioned.

[mzmolly]

10. It's frightening to think about what happens

if we don't deal with this as a nation. Currently the POTUS is benefiting from this nonsense. He will do nothing and allow it to continue. Gawd I hate him.

[BannonsLiver]

9. They're just making it harder on themselves.

If it all goes as we’d hope there will be a new sheriff in town soon, and there will be hell to pay for that thug and his shithole country.

[FakeNoose]

12. Barack Obama will be our next Ambassador to Russia

Or, maybe he'll be our next Secretary of State, which is even better.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

14. There is some legitimacy sick bullshit being pushed by OANN

I refuse to give it any mention or specifics because it’s obviously a wounded animal desperation move.

All I will say is multiple Biden family members have grounds for a defamation lawsuit. Actual Malice has been obliterated in this case.

Seriously it’s really some insanely fucked up bullshit they are attempting to pass off here.

[mzmolly]

15. I totally agree.

There should be fierce legal pushback on this.

I just read about a victim of deep fake porn, and wasn't overly familiar prior: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepfake_pornography I guess it's been around a while?

Seriously - they go from HC run Pizza place pedo join to even more disgusting tactics? I hope all involved pay a heavy legal price.