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Crime AI

South Korea Criminalizes Watching Or Possessing Sexually Explicit Deepfakes (reuters.com) 69

Posted by BeauHD from the deepfake-crisis dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: South Korean lawmakers on Thursday passed a bill that criminalizes possessing or watching sexually explicit deepfake images and videos, with penalties set to include prison terms and fines. There has been an outcry in South Korea over Telegram group chats where sexually explicit and illegal deepfakes were created and widely shared, prompting calls for tougher punishment. Anyone purchasing, saving or watching such material could face up to three years in jail or be fined up to 30 million won ($22,600), according to the bill.

Currently, making sexually explicit deepfakes with the intention of distributing them is punishable by five years in prison or a fine of 50 million won under the Sexual Violence Prevention and Victims Protection Act. When the new law takes effect, the maximum sentence for such crimes will also increase to seven years regardless of the intention. The bill will now need the approval of President Yoon Suk Yeol in order to be enacted. South Korean police have so far handled more than 800 deepfake sex crime cases this year, the Yonhap news agency reported on Thursday. That compares with 156 for all of 2021, when data was first collated. Most victims and perpetrators are teenagers, police say.
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South Korea Criminalizes Watching Or Possessing Sexually Explicit Deepfakes More

South Korea Criminalizes Watching Or Possessing Sexually Explicit Deepfakes

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  • I wonder... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by vbdasc ( 146051 ) on Friday September 27, 2024 @08:02AM (#64821339)

    If someone sends me an email with a sexual explicit deepfake and I open it, do I get sent to jail?

    • Fun Fact (Score:4, Informative)

      by JBMcB ( 73720 ) on Friday September 27, 2024 @08:16AM (#64821367)

      Some governments consider viewing material on a computer the same as creating it, as you are generating files on your computer (web browser cache) therefore you are "creating" material.

      • that should be something for the jury to deside.

        • Korea use juries?

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by JBMcB ( 73720 )

            Korea use juries?

            Uh, yeah? It isn't North Korea.

            • Uhm no, they donâ(TM)t have jury systems. They have an inquisitorial system copied from European systems where basically the same entity (the court) will arrange to arrest you, question you and then put that forth as evidence to a judge or panel of judges, you may have an attorney present but they cannot object and must remain silent when you are questioned unless the methods to obtain a confession become illegal. And thatâ(TM)s South Korea; North Korea you are lucky if you donâ(TM)t immediat

              • Jury (Score:3)

                by JBMcB ( 73720 )

                They aren't called jury trials, but they are jury trials.

                https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2022... [loc.gov]

                • Re: (Score:1)

                  by guruevi ( 827432 )

                  Perhaps you should read further than the first sentence:
                  judgments are rendered by qualified judges. Juries’ decisions and opinions, therefore, do not bind the court. Accordingly, the ACPCT provides that while jury’s decisions may under conditions enumerated be considered by the judge before making a judicial determination, “[n]o verdict and opinions [by the jury] shall be binding on the court” (art. 46(5)).

                  Basically citizens may become what we consider amicus curiae, those are not j

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by zlives ( 2009072 )

        i don't use ai llm's so i don't know if this is a thing, could you email a link with appropriate parameters as part of the url to create an image from a llm?

      • Double standard, what would the music industry think of that? If I copy music to listen to it, have I created it. Seems like 2 different rules depending on who is asking.

    • Re:I wonder... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Joe_Dragon ( 2206452 ) on Friday September 27, 2024 @08:37AM (#64821423)

      well pay me $250 or I rat you out

      • Cops used to keep a "ham sandwich" (stolen gun) in their car to "find" on folks who gave them any shit. Say you pull someone over and they give you some attitude. Well, you can give them some back quite easily "Ohhhhh, lookie here what I found. CATCH" and he throws you the unloaded gun. You catch it. Now it's got your prints on it. "Well whaddya know, Mr Smart Ass here has a stolen gun!"

        Now all they need is a USB stick with some deepfake porn. If the cop himself gets busted with it he can always say it wa
        • Actually, there was a famous building security recording of a police officer shooting an unarmed criminal in the back as the criminal ran, walking up to him, shooting him in the head, execution style, then walking back to his police car retrieving a pistol, firing it a couple of times, then dropped it near the dead criminals' hands. used his gloved hands to make the dead guys hands grip it... the sight was shocking for me.

          This was back maybe 12 years ago? 10?

          • You're getting some of the details wrong but you're probably thinking of this: https://youtu.be/vSZnf9ypD-o?s... [youtu.be] From 2015. A bystander recording, not a building security video. Officer cuffs him after the initial shots. Then can be seen planting a gun. He was later charged and entered a guilty plea they resulted in a 20 year prison sentence for federal civil rights violations. The sentencing judge determined the underlying offense was 2nd degree murder but that isn't technically what he was convicted of
            • thanks for correcting me, I appreciate it (no sarcasm intended). Yeah, now that you state it, it refreshes my memory and yep, I got some details wrong!

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by haruchai ( 17472 )

              I don't understand how that fucking pig didn't get life without parole

    • Generally how itâ(TM)s meant to work is that you ring up the police and tell them, and they prosecute the person who sent it. Of course, if you trust that process to work like that, then boy do I have a bridge to sell you.

      • I don't know about Korean Police, but in the USA it appears many cops would take the easy route and just arrest you rather than searching out the sender, even though that would appear to be trivial.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      There was a case of this in the UK a while back. Some teenager got sent a single child abuse image by someone at their school over WhatsApp. The police came and took his phone, and a year later said they had decided not to prosecute but were destroying the phone.

      So if it happens to you, you are likely to have an investigation hanging over you for a fairly long time, and not get your device back, best case.

      In that particular instance the police subsequently sent a letter to the wrong address, which happened

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Possibly. The German police recommends that if you get CSAM sent via Email to delete it and _not_ tell them, as possession is a crime and an Email in your inbox counts as possession, no intent required. Insane laws made by deranged politicians.

  • If I like watching p0rn, then how do I check that the p0rn I have is not deepfake? Will this law effectively ban p0rn in Korea?

    • Re:I wonder... (Score:5, Informative)

      by garett_spencley ( 193892 ) on Friday September 27, 2024 @08:23AM (#64821381) Journal

      Thing is, pornography is already illegal in South Korea.

      According to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography_laws_by_region), these are the applicable 3 laws:

      Article 243 (Distribution, etc. of Obscene Pictures)
      Any person who distributes, sells, lends, openly displays or shows any obscene documents, drawing, pictures, films or other things, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than one year or by a fine not exceeding five million won.[9]

      Article 244 (Manufacture, etc. of Obscene Pictures)
      A person who, for the purpose of accomplishing the acts as prescribed in Article 243, manufactures, possesses, imports or exports obscene goods, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than one year or by a fine not exceeding five million won.[9]

      Article 44-7 (Prohibition on Circulation of Unlawful Information)
      No one may circulate any of the following information through an information and communications network: 1. Information with obscene content distributed, sold, rented, or displayed openly in the form of code, words, sound, images, or motion picture;[10]

      And to help confirm my interpretation, I did a quick web search and found this list-a-cle "10 things you didn't know are illegal in Korea" and it lists pornography (tattoos really took me by surprise): https://10mag.com/illegal-in-korea/

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by RobinH ( 124750 )
        The dog meat thing is interesting. I was there around 2008 and there were restaurants openly serving dog meat. My hosts asked me if I would like to try one of those places and I politely declined. But I did try the "Beondegi [wikipedia.org]" (silk worm pupae) at a pub. Not bad... a bit like potato chips. Good protein.

        • The dog meat thing in that area has been hard for me to get a fix on. It seems like a lot of people in the places where it happens consider it abhorrent but obviously not enough to stop it and of course it has it's fans who know their favorite food is in the crosshairs.

          I dunno man I don't like it either but I hear pigs are such nice animals that I go out of my way to never interact with them alive. So am I any better?

          The slikworm pupae thing is crazy though, can't say i loved every dish i've tried with th

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by HBI ( 10338492 )

        Korea is a funny place. There are hookers, but they are in brothels in certain places like Itaewon, a district in Seoul. There is no obvious porn. You'd think people were disinterested in sex, but Koreans tend to go for cheesecake shots of young women, and you see a lot of that on Korean tv.

      • Oh great, tattoo's being illegal, more countries should take that stand. These days a lot of people take tattoo's because they think they want them, but you really see a major increase if there is a new (reality) show about tattoo's or a celebrity who shows off a new tattoo. So it's clearly just a hype for many. I think most tattoo's are fugly, and after a while they fade and become even more fugly. And where do a lot of these people get the money to have them when they can hardly come by for the rent/food.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gweihir ( 88907 )

          Soo, because _you_ do not like them you think it is ok to make them illegal? You are just authoritarian scum.

          No, I do not like them either. Same for piercings, excessive make-up, etc. But do I think it is acceptable to outlaw these? Not in a million years. People deserve their freedom of expression.

          • fact is, they aren't healthy too. I know multiple persons who had problems with them from the start, and even one person who had skincancer due to the ink used.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by gweihir ( 88907 )

              So? Are you for trying to force people to live healthy? That is in no way acceptable. Warn them, yes. Provide incentives, yes. But coercion or outright force? No. People have a right to make bad decisions. We are not the 3rd Reich that made the "Volkskörper" state property and you had no say in what you did to yourself.

      • So any form of racy pictures is flat-out illegal in South Korea?!? ... Ok, that does explain a thing or two when it comes to abysmal birth-rates.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gweihir ( 88907 )

          While probably true, you will find countless assholes (usually religious fuckups, but not only) that claim exactly the converse.

      • Heh (Score:2)

        by kackle ( 910159 )
        /* TODO */

        #define obscene

      • Thing is, pornography is already illegal in South Korea.

        Pornography is illegal in Vietnam too, but people use VPNs and Tor to bypass the restrictions (my wife and I were just recently in Vietnam and it worked like a charm).

      • The articles you quote mention obscene documents, goods, or content. The obvious question becomes how they define what's "obscene". These type of deliberations can descend into vague ideas about "community standards" and such.

      • > drawing, ... or other things,

        Are ASCII ART B( . )( . )Bs considered pornography? /s

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        Ah. That explains why they have to much trouble with pornographic deepfakes: People use it as a way to get porn.

        Banning porn is really, really, really stupid. All it does is increase sexual violence. Same, incidentally, for banning prostitution. And when you look deeper, you always find some groups of fanatics behind those laws that want to force their will on people.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

      You already get nailed for porn, as porn is illegal in ROK. This is simply "this kind of porn gets you this much punishment, whereas that kind of porn gets you that much". It's a qualitative difference in punishment depending on how offensive the material is.

  • possession (Score:3)

    by bugs2squash ( 1132591 ) on Friday September 27, 2024 @08:30AM (#64821403)
    pretty soon mere possession of genetalia will be grounds for imprisonment

  • so just viewing pop up ads can = jail / prison time?
    Also are allowed to hack / bypass DRM (install ad block) to not view ads?

  • We have to define AI and approaching things. We have to define fair use for AI.

    Just like we can read a book and learn so should an AI be able to. Just like we can read something and draw an image representing it so should an AI be able to. Just like we can fantasize so should an AI be able to and generate images and sound from it. Are we going to allow government to outlaw certain thoughts? Our own thinking is related to what "AI" is doing.

    A separate issue: So far no AI has risen to status of person. So no

    • Sophia, a robot with (she is said to have) an AI is legally a person in Saudi Arabia, sure it was a publicity stunt the Saudis did to try to pretend that they are not actually as backward as the western world thinks they are, but still, it is legally a person there. I'm not sure but I believe that the UN also granted it 'personhood'

      • Any entity that you can sue in court is legally a person (incorporated), eg cities, states, countries, corporations. This means they are granted certain rights like being the legally recognized owner of property, ability to participate in court cases, etc. It does not mean anyone thinks they are human beings nor have all the human rights.

        As a counterexample, you cannot sue "your neighbors on the other block" because they are not legally a person, so you'd have to sue each of them individually.

        • thanks for this commentary. I just find it amusing that Sophia is viewed as a person by anyone when it is clearly not one. It is a simple robot with some level of 'AI' .

  • with the stoke of a politicians pen for some to get rich off.

  • pretty soon mere possession of genetalia will be grounds for imprisonment

    In that case, I am in a LOT of trouble.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by cstacy ( 534252 )

      pretty soon mere possession of genetalia will be grounds for imprisonment

      In that case, I am in a LOT of trouble.

      Why? Whose have you collected?

    • You're ok, as long as you don't look at yourself.

  • I don't know any SK celebs or otherwise. How would I know if something was a deepfake or not? Hell, I could hardly tell them apart in Extraordinary Attorney Woo.

  • Next thing you know having fantasies will land you a deepfake fine.

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