A British academic has called for deepfake porn to be criminalized. The British parliament is in the process of ‘closing a loophole’ which allowed upskirt photos to be legal. A so called ‘academic expert’ on the regulation of Internet porn has demanded that politicians seize the opportunity to ‘futureproof’ sex tech legislation by criminalizing the use of A.I. based face swapping tech in the generation of porn. I guess Brits should at least feel lucky that she didn’t also demand that sex robots be banned. As far as I am aware, if the proposed legislation is implemented, it would make the UK the first country in the world to make deepfake porn illegal, although one state of Australia has a similar law. The British anti-upskirting law had been controversially delayed when a Conservative MP blocked it on the grounds that it hadn’t been debated.
Clare McGlynn, a law professor at Durham University specializing in the regulation of pornography and image-based sexual abuse, told The Guardian that ministers should go further and take this chance to implement legislation which is “future-proofed.”
She argued that the criminalization of ‘deepfake’ images should be added to the bill. “The upskirting bill is a welcome first step towards a more comprehensive response to image-based sexual abuse, but when a government tries to legislate on something quickly there is a risk that an opportunity to have a proper look at the problems raised by new technology is missed,” McGlynn said.
Deepfake is an ever-growing form of online pornographic abuse, which initially saw the faces of celebrities being digitally imposed on bodies for pornographic content. Now with more apps available to make the modifications, it is increasingly easier for ordinary people to be targeted.
McGlynn called for the practice to be criminalized in light of the mental toll it takes on victims, and cited similar legislation in New South Wales, Australia, as proof of how criminalization could come into effect.
“It would be easy to extend the bill so that it covers images which have been altered too, and clearly criminalize a practice that victims say they find incredibly distressing,” McGlynn added.
