The Danish government is to clamp down on the creation and dissemination of AI-generated deepfakes by changing copyright law to ensure that everybody has the right to their own body, facial features and voice.
The Danish government said on Thursday it would strengthen protection against digital imitations of people’s identities with what it believes to be the first law of its kind in Europe.
Having secured broad cross-party agreement, the department of culture plans to submit a proposal to amend the current law for consultation before the summer recess and then submit the amendment in the autumn.
It defines a deepfake as a very realistic digital representation of a person, including their appearance and voice.
The Danish culture minister, Jakob Engel-Schmidt, said he hoped the bill before parliament would send an “unequivocal message” that everybody had the right to the way they looked and sounded.
He told the Guardian: “In the bill we agree and are sending an unequivocal message that everybody has the right to their own body, their own voice and their own facial features, which is apparently not how the current law is protecting people against generative AI.”
He added: “Human beings can be run through the digital copy machine and be misused for all sorts of purposes and I’m not willing to accept that.”
The move, which is believed to have the backing of nine in 10 MPs, comes amid rapidly developing AI technology that has made it easier than ever to create a convincing fake image, video or sound to mimic the features of another person.
The changes to Danish copyright law will, once approved, theoretically give people in Denmark the right to demand that online platforms remove such content if it is shared without consent.
Luxury department store is forced to shut some systems but website and shops continue to operate.
Harrods has been hit by a cyber-attack, just days after Marks & Spencer and the Co-op were targeted.
The luxury department store is understood to have been forced to shut down some systems, but said its website and all its stores, including the Knightsbridge flagship, H beauty and airport outlets, continued to operate. It is understood the retailer first realised it was being targeted earlier this week.
Harrods said in a statement: “We recently experienced attempts to gain unauthorised access to some of our systems. Our seasoned IT security team immediately took proactive steps to keep systems safe and as a result we have restricted internet access at our sites today.”
The retailer said it was not asking customers to take any action, indicating that it did not suspect data had been accessed. It added: “We will continue to provide updates as necessary.”
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British companies are being urged to carry out job interviews for IT workers on video or in person to head off the threat of giving jobs to fake North Korean employees.
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Google said in a report this month that a case uncovered last year involved a single North Korean worker deploying at least 12 personae across Europe and the US. The IT worker was seeking jobs within the defence industry and government sectors. Under a new tactic, the bogus IT professionals have been threatening to release sensitive company data after being fired.
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