The law in the UK is about to take a major turn regarding deepfakes, particularly erotic or pornographic images. This initiative, part of efforts to combat violence against women, will punish those who create such deepfakes without consent with heavy sanctions and is expected even incarceration.
To commit the crime it will be sufficient to create those images, with or without the intention of sharing them. Sharing, however, will be a separate crime also punishable by imprisonment.
The problem is unfortunately well known and in recent years it has become particularly common, to the point that we even see it in schools, among classmates.
Those who do it may not realize that it is a very serious gesture, so where common sense and normal (or so it should) respect between people does not arrive, the threat of punishment will have to come.
the British government, in fact, has recognized violence against women and girls as one national threat, forcing the police to prioritize its prevention. This new law is designed to combat a practice increasingly used to humiliate or harm victims. The Minister for Victims and Protection, Laura Farris, declared that “this new crime sends a very clear message: the production of this material is immoral, often misogynistic and constitutes a crime.”
Of course, on the other side of the scale is freedom of expression, and there will be those who believe that creating the video with someone else’s face falls within the definition of this freedom. It will be up to legislators to decide whether the right to protect one’s reputation, on the one hand, or the right to “express oneself freely” even if doing so harms the other person is worth more.
Tags: jail making deepfake law takes shape
