Deepfake Satellite Imagery Poses a Not-so-Distant Threat (theverge.com) 30
Long-time Slashdot reader AmiMoJo quotes the Verge's warning about "deepfake geography: AI-generated images of cityscapes and countryside."
Specifically, geographers are concerned about the spread of fake, AI-generated satellite imagery. Such pictures could mislead in a variety of ways. They could be used to create hoaxes about wildfires or floods, or to discredit stories based on real satellite imagery... Deepfake geography might even be a national security issue, as geopolitical adversaries use fake satellite imagery to mislead foes...
The first step to tackling these issues is to make people aware there's a problem in the first place, says Bo Zhao, an assistant professor of geography at the University of Washington. Zhao and his colleagues recently published a paper on the subject of "deep fake geography," which includes their own experiments generating and detecting this imagery... As part of their study, Zhao and his colleagues created software to generate deepfake satellite images, using the same basic AI method (a technique known as generative adversarial networks, or GANs) used in well-known programs like ThisPersonDoesNotExist.com. They then created detection software that was able to spot the fakes based on characteristics like texture, contrast, and color. But as experts have warned for years regarding deepfakes of people, any detection tool needs constant updates to keep up with improvements in deepfake generation.
The first step to tackling these issues is to make people aware there's a problem in the first place, says Bo Zhao, an assistant professor of geography at the University of Washington. Zhao and his colleagues recently published a paper on the subject of "deep fake geography," which includes their own experiments generating and detecting this imagery... As part of their study, Zhao and his colleagues created software to generate deepfake satellite images, using the same basic AI method (a technique known as generative adversarial networks, or GANs) used in well-known programs like ThisPersonDoesNotExist.com. They then created detection software that was able to spot the fakes based on characteristics like texture, contrast, and color. But as experts have warned for years regarding deepfakes of people, any detection tool needs constant updates to keep up with improvements in deepfake generation.
The way to fix it (Score:2)
Make sure the original photos are always publicly available. With any secrecy comes fakery, goes with the territory.
The only solution to "fake news" is transparency. When the officials lie, all bets are off.
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Those are shallow fakes. The deep fakes will get all those people onboard, plus more.
With satellite photos in particular, they are often low-quality to start with, and from a bit of an unnatural perspective to the human eye. So it's probably a lot easier to fake them without it looking "off".
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If you make a FAKE open and transparent authority you give them everything they need. Look at all the bogus fact checking sites and sites which allege to tell you the lean of news sources. Everyone is happy to 'assist' you in believing you've applied critical thinking skills while actually deferring them to a man-in-the-middle attack.
Re: The way to fix it (Score:2)
Wizard's Second Rule: The Hero will conveniently stumble across some new power just in time to save the Female Lead from death (but not until she has been sufficiently tortured, sexually.)
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Specifically, I am highly suspicious of some of the most famous SAT evidence from the last decade too - the ones from 17th of July 2014. They do not check out versus weather observations from that day. While you can fake a photo, there is no way in hell to fake the wea
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Are you referring to this?
"In 2015 Bellingcat purchased satellite photos from the same area and time as used by the [Russian Ministry of Defense] and demonstrated that the MoD had used older photos (May and June 2014) in their presentation, and that the presentation had been edited to make a Ukrainian Buk launcher appear as if it had been removed after the attack."
If so, sounds like it was debunked already, although it did take a while.
Re: The way to fix it (Score:2)
*laughs in real-world 51% attack*
I'm sorry to tell you, but if the majority of your trusted informations sources report something else, that is your reality.
Unless you were there, literally *everything* is hearsay.
Including peer-reviewed scientific papers, unless you're verifying them.
Actually, sensory input is neural hearsay too. Hell, your brain is currently telling you that you are reading this here.
I don't know whether to be sorry, or say "enjoy your existential crisis". ;)
(No, I'm gonna be nice: Listen
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'The universe is my eyes and ears. Everything else is hearsay.'
I can't even be certain that I exist. Everything I think I'm experiencing is reliant on that to begin with.
Thus everything is suspect.
The use of technology (Score:2)
People say 'technology is just a tool, it can be used for good or evil'.
Well, it might or might not ever be used to benefit people, but you can guarantee that it will be used for evil.
Re: The use of technology (Score:2)
That is provably false.
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OK, prove it. Name a technology that has never been used for nefarious purposes.
What a load of crap! (Score:2, Interesting)
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Here is the real goal! "(Think about reports on Chinaâ(TM)s Uyghur detention camps that gained credence from satellite evidence." China wants to say their concentration camps are faked and this professor is helping!
I really doubt that James Vincent (who wrote the article your quoted) is trying to cover for China. On top of that, map fakery isn't a groundbreaking idea. Instead, this is just the next iteration in it's evolution. Furthermore, there was additional work specifically put into detecting faked map imagery, not just how it could be generated.
Wonder how much money is flowing to the University/Professors here and from where?
They would have to be really dumb guys with PhDs to think they could get away with getting any substantial amount of money from China. It's not like the government isn
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I really doubt that James Vincent (who wrote the article your quoted) is trying to cover for China. On top of that, map fakery isn't a groundbreaking idea. Instead, this is just the next iteration in it's evolution. Furthermore, there was additional work specifically put into detecting faked map imagery, not just how it could be generated.
While I'm not saying it's 100% true, the idea is still plausible. It's been a talking point for the last 5 years, at least in my experience, from the 50 cent army that satellite images are fake for XinJiang and weather images and they ask people to "see for themselves" by going there. The strategy of China isn't to make you not believe, but to make the general people have significant doubt.
They would have to be really dumb guys with PhDs to think they could get away with getting any substantial amount of money from China. It's not like the government isn't looking closely at foreign connections in academia or anything, right?
Now, considering this is a group of Chinese Americans, it sure seems like they either the dumbest, most conspicuous group or they are actually doing to opposite of what you are proposing and working against nations that would present false evidence. You may find this hard to believe but the Chinese that manage to leave China don't often want to go back to China. The ones that do want to help improve their communities but nobody wants to actually help the CCP that isn't already in the CCP.
Well, no. There's been a ton of cases of this in the past:
The military has its own imaging satellites (Score:1)
And drones, and observation aircraft. Always has, since the dawn of flight. (Not even powered flight, because they originally used hot air balloons.) Because it needs data which is both accurate and recent. It doesn't matter if an old photo shows a bridge somewhere. What matters is that it's still there now. And that the enemy hasn't flooded the fields around it.
It seems extremely unlikely any major military power cares what Baidu Maps shows.
Nope. (Score:2)
Nothing to see here. [taphilo.com] That bomber plant must be somewhere else.
Nothing new. (Score:2)
Faking records is as old as records.
But hey, you got a fake scare out of the livestock so they keep being controllable by your final solutions! Good for you!
Easy enough (Score:4, Funny)
Threat to whom? (Score:1)
Just think. Which country has a track record of showing satellite images as an excuse to bomb/invade another country?
It is everybody else who should feel threatened.
Pointless if you can't inject it into the system (Score:1)