Denmark to tackle deepfakes by giving people copyright to their own features

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.

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It defines a deepfake as a very realistic digital representation of a person, including their appearance and voice.

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“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.”

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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.

It will also cover “realistic, digitally generated imitations” of an artist’s performance without consent. Violation of the proposed rules could result in compensation for those affected.

The government said the new rules would not affect parodies and satire, which would still be permitted.

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Source: Denmark to tackle deepfakes by giving people copyright to their own features | Deepfake | The Guardian

An interesting take on it. I am curious how this goes – defending copyright can be a very detailed thing, so what happens if someone alters someone else’s eyebrows in the deepfake by making them a mm longer? Does that invalidate the whole copyright?

Robin Edgar

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