Copyright over your own face and voice
To tackle deepfakes, Denmark proposes expanding copyright law so everyone gets copyright over their own face and voice. There are similar ideas in the Netherlands with an online consultation. In Latvian newspaper ‘Latvijas Avīze’, Dirk Visser and Bart Custers discuss the proposals.
Dirk Visser argues that legislation, including the GDPR, is currently inadequate: 'That’s a serious flaw. The new AI Act also provides inadequate remedy as it only requires a mention to be given. For instance, if I made a film in which a famous actor is used as a deepfake, and at the end I write "this is a deepfake", it'll have no effect. I would still be using someone's image and voice without permission. These types of situations shouldn’t be permitted.'
Bart Custers agrees with this view in a recent NJB-artikel. He adds that commercialising human identity is a dangerous path to go down: ‘People might consider selling their face or voice to make a profit. But how do you know it’s a fair transaction? Are all the consequences transparent?' Custers argues that a person's personal appearance shouldn't be able to become a commodity too easily. Copyright over your own face or voice could be counterproductive.
More information?
On the NOS website, read the articles about the proposed legislation in the Netherlands en Denemark (in Dutch)
The online consultation can be viewed on the government website Overheid.nl.
See the website of Latvijas Avīze for the article with Dirk Visser and Bart Custers (in Latvian).