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The Courts Crime Politics

Political Consultant Behind Fake Biden Robocalls Faces $6 Million Fine, Criminal Charges (apnews.com) 49

Posted by BeauHD from the first-of-many dept.
Political consultant Steven Kramer faces a $6 million fine and over two dozen criminal charges for using AI-generated robocalls mimicking President Joe Biden's voice to mislead New Hampshire voters ahead of the presidential primary. The Associated Press reports: The Federal Communications Commission said the fine it proposed Thursday for Steven Kramer is its first involving generative AI technology. The company accused of transmitting the calls, Lingo Telecom, faces a $2 million fine, though in both cases the parties could settle or further negotiate, the FCC said. Kramer has admitted orchestrating a message that was sent to thousands of voters two days before the first-in-the-nation primary on Jan. 23. The message played an AI-generated voice similar to the Democratic president's that used his phrase "What a bunch of malarkey" and falsely suggested that voting in the primary would preclude voters from casting ballots in November.

Kramer is facing 13 felony charges alleging he violated a New Hampshire law against attempting to deter someone from voting using misleading information. He also faces 13 misdemeanor charges accusing him of falsely representing himself as a candidate by his own conduct or that of another person. The charges were filed in four counties and will be prosecuted by the state attorney general's office. Attorney General John Formella said New Hampshire was committed to ensuring that its elections "remain free from unlawful interference."

Kramer, who owns a firm that specializes in get-out-the-vote projects, did not respond to an email seeking comment Thursday. He told The Associated Press in February that he wasn't trying to influence the outcome of the election but rather wanted to send a wake-up call about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence when he paid a New Orleans magician $150 to create the recording. "Maybe I'm a villain today, but I think in the end we get a better country and better democracy because of what I've done, deliberately," Kramer said in February.
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Political Consultant Behind Fake Biden Robocalls Faces $6 Million Fine, Criminal Charges More

Political Consultant Behind Fake Biden Robocalls Faces $6 Million Fine, Criminal Charges

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  • Uh oh, he wrestled (Score:5, Informative)

    by bug_hunter ( 32923 ) on Thursday May 23, 2024 @09:27PM (#64494975)

    > He told The Associated Press in February that he wasn’t trying to influence the outcome of the election but rather wanted to send a wake-up call about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence when he paid a New Orleans magician $150 to create the recording.

    > “I wrestled in college. I’m ready for the fight,” said Kramer, who is scheduled to appear in court on June 5. “If they want to throw me in jail, good luck.”

    I think two things are true:
    * This is a wakeup call as a concrete example of dangers of AI when it comes to elections, in a "relatively" low stake way (it alludes to he was trying to help a fringe Democratic candidate who was never going to get elected despite this manipulation attempt).
    * The guy is nuts and was attempting to help election integrity in the same way a bank robber is trying to help future bank security by the act of robbing a bank.

    • Re:Uh oh, he wrestled (Score:5, Insightful)

      by laughing_badger ( 628416 ) on Friday May 24, 2024 @04:04AM (#64495449) Homepage

      So he was sending a wake-up call. That's quite altruistic. I take it that the message ended with 'What you have just heard is an AI generated fake. The purpose of this call is to warn you about what can be easily faked these days. Please go ahead and vote in both, you are entitled to do so.'? No? I wonder why...

      I think his 'defence' is not only going to be ineffective but actively irritate the judge.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        Big ego, small skills and an asshole on top. A criminal asshole.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mjwx ( 966435 )

        So he was sending a wake-up call. That's quite altruistic. I take it that the message ended with 'What you have just heard is an AI generated fake. The purpose of this call is to warn you about what can be easily faked these days. Please go ahead and vote in both, you are entitled to do so.'? No? I wonder why...

        I think his 'defence' is not only going to be ineffective but actively irritate the judge.

        Depends on which judge... Recent times have shown some to be quite biased when it comes to letting Republicans get away with anything.

        • Depends on which judge... Recent times have shown some to be quite biased when it comes to letting Republicans get away with anything.

          Yeah but this guys a nobody in the scheme of things, he's not gonna be as protected as he probably thinks he is. And trust me, as a former court staffer, THIS kind of defence really gets up judges noses. His lawyer is either a drooling idiot, or he's pled with the client to try literally anything else and the client said no.

      • I think his 'defence' is not only going to be ineffective but actively irritate the judge.

        Judges are just as deeply prejudiced on political matters as the average non-lawyer, non-judge citizen is. I can easily see a judge who follows the Alito/Thomas type model as calling this a "freedom of speech issue, we can't do anything to punish him here" situation.

        • Watch them pull out some originalism crap, it was accepted practice to mock your opponent with a falsetto voice in the 1700's, therefore the founders intended the first amendment to protect AI deepfaked misinformation campaigns.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Yep. Seems to a really stellar instance of human intelligence. Reminds me of all the morons that claimed (including here), that storming the Capitol was not illegal and no crimes had been committed. Well, even Trump-appointed judges have been sending these criminals to prison. This guy will get a nice cell as well.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by JBMcB ( 73720 )

      This is a wakeup call as a concrete example of dangers of AI when it comes to elections

      How is an AI generated voice more dangerous than someone who sounds like Joe Biden doing the same thing?

  • Here's the call (Score:4, Insightful)

    by penguinoid ( 724646 ) on Thursday May 23, 2024 @09:41PM (#64494993) Homepage Journal

    https://www.nbcnews.com/politi... [nbcnews.com]

    It's an impersonation of Biden telling voters to save their vote for the November election. It would be a very concerning call if there wasn't a 100% guarantee of Biden winning the Democratic primary against what's-their-face.

    • https://www.nbcnews.com/politi... [nbcnews.com]

      It's an impersonation of Biden telling voters to save their vote for the November election. It would be a very concerning call if there wasn't a 100% guarantee of Biden winning the Democratic primary against what's-their-face.

      Long shot candidate does better than expected in an early primary, then Biden has a couple of big gaffes, and things get interesting. Things are rarely as inevitable as they seem.

      • No amount of gaffes, nor even Biden's death, nor even Biden dropping out of the race and endorsing Trump, could convince democrats to vote for the worm brain RFK Jr. running against him.

        • No amount of gaffes, nor even Biden's death, nor even Biden dropping out of the race and endorsing Trump, could convince democrats to vote for the worm brain RFK Jr. running against him.

          It didn't say who the candidate was, there was a legit Democrat running against Biden at the start but he later dropped out.

          I agree RFK Jr. was never winning the Democratic nomination in any circumstance.

        • Don't be so confident that Democrats won't vote for RFK. Remember that in the southern states the parties flipped back in the sixties, and there are still a lot of very conservative Democrats, especially in the south.

          For example: you might think of Kentucky as a solidly red state, and it is, but 48% of registered voters in Kentucky are Democrats. They just don't vote for Democratic politicians. Mostly. Kentucky does have a Democratic governor.
    • The presidency isn't the only election on the primary ballot.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by HiThere ( 15173 )

      That shouldn't reduce your concern. Because THIS one being a nothing event has no implication that the next one will be.

    • Because you don't understand our politics. The goal here wasn't for Biden to lose the primary election The goal here was to reduce voter turnout which would make Joe Biden look politically weaker than he actually is.

      Americans are very very very much about the bandwagon effect. If we see somebody starting to lose we think they're a loser and want to abandon them least we become a loser to.

      This is why Donald Trump went on and on and on and on about winning and winning to the point where any sensible per

  • that'l be a hard sell (Score:3)

    by v1 ( 525388 ) on Friday May 24, 2024 @12:18AM (#64495179) Homepage Journal

    He told The Associated Press in February that he wasnâ(TM)t trying to influence the outcome of the election

    That sounds like bringing a bull into a china shop but claiming you don't intend to break anything. Like, that was pretty much the entire point of what you did.

  • Be afraid, be very afraid (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Bruce66423 ( 1678196 ) on Friday May 24, 2024 @03:11AM (#64495365)

    We will no doubt see many such scams in the run up to November. The candidates will deny any knowledge - they might even not be lying when they say that. However ideologues on both sides who see the other party's victory as a major problem will have little compunction about pulling such stunts, and those nice people in the Kremlin and Beijing won't be holding back either.

    The UK election in July may be a testing ground; keep an eye out for the scams that emerge.

  • All robocallers should be thrown in jail (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Required Snark ( 1702878 ) on Friday May 24, 2024 @03:59AM (#64495437)
    I think I speak for the majority here in saying that.

  • If effective, the penalty is too light (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Baron_Yam ( 643147 ) on Friday May 24, 2024 @09:06AM (#64495937)

    If you can win an election for $6m and a fall guy... You're going to see more of this.

    To a major election campaign, that's not even spare change from couch cushions.

    • What penalty? Whoever paid for this will cover his expenses.

      Now if he was made sit in a public square and everyone he robocalled was invited to bring a stone... There might actually be a deterrent to future transgressions.

      • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

        by Baron_Yam ( 643147 )

        It's buried in the linked article, but he faced hard time for impersonating an election candidate and voter suppression. It's not just a fine (potentially).

        Of course, he's a white guy who did it deliberately, he probably won't get as much time as that woman who accidentally voted when not eligible on a technicality and dared to do so while black.

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