The amazing and menacing futuristic era of digital technology has furnished us smartphones, digital TV and radio, wi-fi, virtual assistants, online shopping and such but also blockchain, autonomous weapons, artificial intelligence, ransomware, the dark web, and more.
Oil, gas, and meat shortages from foreign ransomware cyberattacks on Colonial Pipeline, one of the largest pipeline companies in the U.S., and JBS, one of the world’s largest meat processors, have stoked public fears of menacing digital technology run rampant. Many are certain that disruptive attacks on our financial systems, power grids, and transportation systems are just around the corner.
And it seems that our all-powerful defense systems designed to keep foreign enemies at bay are helpless against digital enemies.
But there are other digital calamities that hit closer to home. CNBC reports about 50% of identity thefts come from digital thefts. Experian estimates that 1 in 20 Americans suffer such thefts yearly. Unauthorized charges to credit and debit cards, takeover of checking and cell phone accounts, filing of fake tax returns, and more can be life debilitating events.
Then there is deepfake technology. Did you see the sad story in Sports Illustrated last month about a mom who used deepfake video technology to slam her daughters’ competitors in a cheerleader competition? The mom created fake videos that showed a teenage competitor “in unflattering and potentially compromising situations” including nudity.
The SI article describes how deepfake technology, now readily available for use on smartphones, can be used to create videos and photos where the appearance of one person is substituted with another. “We’re not safe in cyberspace,” the story emphasizes. “Anyone can grab any image we put out there and manipulate it to look unseemly.”
“The capacity to generate deepfakes is proceeding much faster than the ability to detect them,” reported the Brookings Institute in 2020. Sen. Marco Rubio warned in 2018 that deepfakes could be used to attack America and other democracies.
The last two National Defense Authorization Acts directed the Department of Homeland Security to study the use of deepfakes and investigate possible detection methods. The Department of Defense is assessing the risks of deepfakes being used against military personnel.
On the broader front, national efforts to thwart cyberattacks and harmful digital technology are limited. Pipelines, power grids, Internet networks, and such are owned and run by private businesses which must provide their own security. Government has little authority to intervene. The Biden administration is making noise about retaliating against foreign hackers, but so far that’s just talk.
Government and business must take steps to prevent menacing digital technology from doing harm. However, at this point in this new era, even laws criminalizing such acts after the fact are limited. In Mississippi cyberbullying and identity theft are criminal acts. Last month Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill criminalizing revenge porn where “intimate parts” are depicted without consent. Other states have passed similar laws. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is the main federal law. But it hasn’t been updated since 2008.
Laws are nice, but prevention is what we need for both national and personal security.
“Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked” – Psalm 82:4.
Crawford is a syndicated columnist from Jackson.
8 comments:
No, Bill. We didn't have "meat shortages." And, no, the Mom did not use "deepfakes."
“While investigators originally believed at least one video showed evidence of the use of so-called Deep Fake face replacement technology, police are at this point unable to confirm the video evidence was falsified,” Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub said via his office in a statement Friday."
Charges on "deepfakes" were dropped.
The Globalist Corporation CEOs have deemed that our privacy is very marketable, and the energy corporations that failed, both the Texas Electrical Grid and Colonial, FAILED to invest in any winterization or cyber defense.
IOW, Bill, globalists will stick to short term gain and fail to invest in long term supply and production systems. Wall Street has and will reward them handsomely for offshoring jobs, cutting wages, and cutting corners.
None of this is new, but you can't even track it accurately.
1:08 makes way less sense than Bill does. This is more boring than South Jackson water issues.
Our legislators are just too old to offer any real understanding of the issues that face our country. Term limits are the answer to this.
Damn 1:08 Anonymous - you need to start writing a weekly column with your vast insight. Will look forward to skipping over it should KF ever decide to publish your weekly rants.
Not quite so fast, 1:08 with your quick crap - while it might not be "deepfake", the point Crawford makes is still valid (unlike whatever it was you tried to convey)
"Prosecutors said Friday they still intend to argue that Spone harassed the girls and attempted to sully their reputation by sending images of them from an anonymous number — one of which was said to have been “manipulated” to make one girl “falsely appear to be unclothed in a public place.” A judge on Friday ordered the case to trial.
Weintraub’s office said in its statement Friday that “while the original assessment that some of the evidence was created by media manipulation may not end up being accurate, a neutral finder of fact will ultimately have the opportunity to determine if the evidence in this case shows Ms. Spone sent photos, videos and texts designed to harass three innocent children.”
3:02, you've never spent time in criminal court if you don't recognize the complete incompetence of this prosecution to have to withdraw sensational charges, especially when it's likely to turn out they either misidentified their own victims or provided their nude film to the court as evidence.
And, it completely disproves his pearl clutching Boomer hysterics over communication mediums.
The "point" was not that folks have been blackmailing people or sending "poison pen" letters for 1000 years. It was hysterics over digital issues that have been around for 40 years but Boomer Billy Bob is just hearing of them.
The sky is not falling.
You must have been first in line to hoard at the gas station.
I think 1:08 has reappeared at 10:20.
Our legislators are just too old to offer any real understanding of the issues that face our country. Term limits are the answer to this.
Not opposed to term limits but not an active proponent either.
Term limits, though, are not a solution to the problem of ageism. Get off your asses and go win some elections. Changing the rules because you don't want to work too hard is [one of] the problem[s] with your ilk.
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