Denmark’s Cool Plan to Fight Deepfakes: Giving Citizens Image Copyrights
Imagine this potentially crazy future: when you’re born, along with your birth certificate and ID, your copyright rights are also issued. This is a possibility that is emerging in Denmark, where they are considering changing copyright laws to give citizens rights over their personal images to combat AI-generated deepfakes, according to
The proposal presented by the Danish Ministry of Culture will enter Parliament in the fall, and if voted on, it will grant Danish citizens control over the copyright of their images, facial features, and voice. This protection, in theory, would allow Danes to demand online platforms to remove deepfakes and other manipulations that are shared without their consent. It would also cover “digitally generated realistic imitations” of an artist’s work without their consent, so AI-generated versions of your favorite artists’ songs would not be allowed.
Debate on the Limits and Consequences of this Protection
In addition to providing protection through copyright, the proposed amendment would establish “severe fines” for any tech platform that does not comply with the law and does not respond to removal requests. The person depicted in deepfakes can also request monetary compensation.
But this protection for the citizen could lead to unintended consequences. For example, could someone use their copyright protection to have their image removed simply because they don’t like it? The amendment appears to be designed solely in relation to deepfakes, which it defines as “a very realistic digital representation of a person”, including their image and voice, according to the report. It would also allow for satire and parody, so the existing fair use doctrine would still apply.
“We agree in this project to send a clear message that everyone has the right to their own body, their own voice, and their own facial features, which apparently is not how current law protects people against generative AI,” said Jakob Engel-Schmidt, Danish Minister of Culture. “Humans can be portrayed by the digital copy machine in order to use their image or voice for various purposes. I’m not willing to accept that.”
Denmark is not the only nation taking action against deepfakes. This year, the United States enacted its own law – which is more defined and gives people the right to remove or take down explicit sexual images that have been uploaded to the Internet, although there are activists who argue that the law is not well defined and could be used as a weapon by those acting in bad faith.”
This article has been translated from Gizmodo US by Lucas Handley. You can find the original version here.
