A New 'Arms Race': How the U.S. Military is Spending Millions to Fight Fake Images

Truth is getting more and more difficult to determine

The Tribulation is getting closer and closer

Competing technology would automatically spot manipulated video

Stephanie Kampf, Mark Kelley · CBC News 

A video that appeared to feature former U.S. president Barack Obama was produced and voiced by director Jordan Peele and Buzzfeed to warn people of an emerging technology that can make it seem as though people are saying or doing things they never did. (Monkeypaw Productions/Buzzfeed)

It's a video that looks convincing — former U.S. president Barack Obama speaking directly to a camera and calling current U.S. President Donald Trump "a total and complete dipshit."

But it never actually happened.

The video was produced and voiced by director Jordan Peele and Buzzfeed to warn people of an emerging technology that can make it seem as though people are saying or doing things they never did.

Watch the video below. Caution: Vulgar language at the end of video.

Convincing fake videos like that are just one of the reasons a specialized team at the U.S. Department of Defence is investing tens of millions of dollars to develop competing technology that would automatically spot manipulated videos and images. The Department of Defence says this technology can have an impact on national security.

Matt Turek, manager of the media forensics program at the department's Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), told CBC's The Fifth Estate that "in some sense it's easier to generate a manipulation now than it is to detect it."

Part of the agency's goal is to anticipate what they call "strategic surprise" and the impact technology will have on the world, Turek says. They came to the conclusion that the capability to manipulate images automatically and without skill "was probably going to arrive sooner rather than later."

Turek says the U.S. government's adversaries could be anyone at this point.

"Could be an individual, could be low resource groups, could be … more organized groups and nation states certainly. But I will point out that nation states have always had the capability to manipulate media."

Eager for a solution

DARPA's media forensics program is halfway through its four-year research mandate and has spent an estimated $68 million on this technology so far.

For digital forensics expert Hany Farid, a technological solution for spotting manipulated videos can't come fast enough.

Farid, a computer science professor at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, is concerned about how technology that can manipulate video could potentially be misused.

"The nightmare situation is a video of Trump saying I've launched nuclear weapons against North Korea and before anybody figures out that it's fake, we're off to the races with a global nuclear meltdown," he says.

Farid doesn't think that's likely, but he also doesn't think it's out of the question.

"Certainly that technology exists today."

At DARPA's offices in Arlington,  Va., Turek showed The Fifth Estate some examples of manipulated videos that DARPA's detection technology can spot.

In one example, two people appear to be sitting beside each other. But they never were. DARPA's detection technology picked up on inconsistencies in the lighting in the frame.

Watch the video below.

"You can actually see the sunlight reflecting off the back wall there, and then they were merged together to create this video," Turek says.

Another example was meant to mimic a surveillance video. In that case, DARPA's detection technology looked at motion information in the video and could automatically detect that part of it was missing.

"This frame's going to turn red at the places where the video was spliced, and so basically a series of frames was removed and that produces inconsistency in the motion signal, and that's what the automated algorithm can pick up on," says Turek.

Watch below to see what the detection technology found 

   

It's not just videos. DARPA is analyzing still images, too.

In the image below, the detection technology spotted that not all of the pixels come from the same camera.

This plane was not in the original photo. (DARPA)

"There's sort of an outline of the airplane that you can see in this noise pattern, and so the computer can automatically pick up on that," says Turek. "Likely the airplane pixels come from a different camera than the rest of the scene."

It's easier than that! The sun is shining on the airplane on what is obviously a dismal, overcast day. USDoD, please feel free to send me a few tens of millions of dollars for that input, American dollars, preferably.

This is the original photo, without the airplane. (DARPA)

A lot of skill

Farid says developing technology to spot fakes created by technology is an "arms race."

"The adversary will always win, you will always be able to create a compelling fake image, or video, but the ability to do that if we are successful on the forensics side is going to take more time, more effort, more skill and more risk."

While software has been released online that allows almost anyone to create manipulated video, Farid says it still takes a level of skill to develop a convincing fake using this kind of technology.

Hany Farid, a computer science professor at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, is concerned about how technology that can manipulate video could possibly be misused. (CBC)

Eventually, he says, if they are successful with developing automated forensic technology to spot fakes, it will mean only a relatively small number of people will be able to create them.

"That's still a risk, but it's a significantly less risk than we have today."

How easily could you be duped by fake news?

Farid says that in addition to developing technology to spot fakes, there could be another way to combat the spread of misinformation.

"We as consumers have to get smarter. We have to stop being so gullible. We have to get out of our echo chambers. We have to be more rational about how we digest and consume digital content online."

DARPA's media forensics program has a focus on the threat manipulated media could pose to national security.

The program would also help the U.S. military. Right now, human analysts have to verify videos and images, which is a manual process. Analysts examine imagery like foreign propaganda. Law enforcement agencies and organizations like the FBI analyze video and imagery such as security videos.

The media forensics program would heavily automate the process and would aim to give analysts a tool to make their jobs easier.

The U.S. government’s adversaries could be anyone, says Matt Turek, manager of the media forensics program at the U.S. Defence Department's Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency. (CBC)

But for the general public, Turek says one of the biggest dangers these kinds of fakes could pose is the potential erosion of the idea that seeing is believing.

"I think we as a society right now have significant trust in image or video. If we see it then we have faith that it happened," he says. "And so the ability for an individual or a small group of people to make compelling manipulations really undermines trust."

Turek says that while manipulators may have the upper hand now, in the long term the detectors have the potential winning advantage "because we're coming at things from so many different angles."

I'm sure the US is not investing in weaponizing the technology. It's all those other guys who would do that kind of evil.

I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast;

And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

Rev 13:3,15

European Nation Microchips National ID Cards For Banking, Voting, Insurance

Revelations 13:16-18 - And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.

By RYAN SAAVEDRA

The small European nation of Estonia has started embedding microchips into their citizens' national ID cards for the purpose of giving their citizens a "digital identity."

"Since the turn of the 21st century, Estonia has offered each citizen a government-issued 'digital identity' — including a chip-embedded national ID card that can be used for social security, health insurance, voter registration, banking and much more," the Los Angeles Times reported. "It also now offers 'e-residency' for people around the world who want to be part of its digital revolution, allowing them to register a business in Estonia, which is part of the European Union."

Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid told the Times last week that Estonia is "the first digital society that has its own state," meaning that "all Estonian digital developments operate as a single society."

"We have a single backbone, based on which everybody builds their services," Kaljulaid said. "And this applies for the public sector and the private sector equally. Because of course all of us globally use very many online services, digital services, but they come on platforms without any security, simply because you don’t have a digital identity to verify who is doing what to whom on the internet."

"We do have it, and we’ve had it since the turn of the century, which means we now have one generation which has grown up knowing that the government is at their fingertips," Kaljulaid continued. "And all the banking services like you have here are at our fingertips as well. But what they also have, as an additional asset, is the security of an internet passport, a digital identity, which makes provision and use of these services safe and secure."

Kaljulaid claimed that the system has never been hacked but added that Estonia is under the same threat from Russia that other nations are in terms of being a target for cyber hackers.

Patriarch of Russian Orthodox Church Warns of End Times

Orthodox Patriarch warns of approaching end times,

asks not to push for revolutionary change

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia © Sergey Pyatakov / Sputnik

In a public speech in the main Moscow cathedral, Patriarch Kirill said the signs from the Book of Revelation are now apparent. He also called on politicians and ordinary citizens to unite and stop the movement towards the abyss.

“All people who love the Motherland must be together because we are entering a critical period in the course of human civilization. This can already be seen with the naked eye. You have to be blind not to notice the approaching awe-inspiring moments in history that the apostle and evangelist John was talking about in the Book of Revelation,” the patriarch was quoted as saying by Interfax. 

Patriarch Kirill added, however, that the exact time of the end times depends on everyone’s actions. He called on people to understand their responsibility regarding Russia and the whole of mankind, and to stop “the movement towards the end of history’s abyss.”

He emphasized that many representatives of the modern Russian intelligentsia are repeating the mistakes made by their predecessors, who led the country into the ruinous revolutionary events of the early 20th century.

“Today is the wrong time to rock the boat of human passions because there is already too much negative influence on people’s spiritual lives,” Kirill said.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia turned 71 on Monday. After holding mass in Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral, the Holy Synod presented the head of the Russian Orthodox Church with a copy of ceremonial headwear worn by Patriarch Tikhon – the man who was elected head of the Church 100 years ago.

Unfortunately, this brief report is a little cryptic as to what Patriarch Kirill was referring to with regard to 'rocking the boat of human passions'. However, over the previous few weeks he was more explicit in his concerns. He seems to be worried about a revolution that might take Russia back into communism, - a very dark period for Russia and the Russian church, or perhaps he is referring specifically to Ukraine.

Here is a very interesting report from MEMRI dated 13 Nov - 

At The Opening Of Russia's Wall Of Grief, Patriarch Kirill Criticizes The Bolshevik Revolution On Its 100th Anniversary And Warns Against Fomenting New Revolutions

Vladimir Putin has tried to straddle the issue of the Bolshevik Revolution in an effort to forge a consensus between supporters and opponents of the revolution. He has described the fall of the Soviet Union as a tragedy and brought back the anthem used during Soviet times. On the other hand with the exception of the Communist Party that tried to launch commemoratives of the centennial anniversary of the revolution throughout the country and have the anniversary declared an official holiday, the event was officially played down. Lately Putin has become more outspoken against the revolution. In downtown Moscow, on October 30, the Russian President attended the opening of the Wall of Grief (known in English also as the Wall of Sorrow) memorial to victims of political repression during the Soviet-era government.[1] The ceremony was held as part of the official Day Of Remembrance For Victims Of Political Repression. During the event, Putin stated: "It is very important that we all and future generations – this is of great significance – know about, and remember this tragic period in our history when entire social groups and entire peoples were cruelly persecuted… This terrifying past cannot be deleted from national memory or, all the more so, be justified by any references to the so-called best interests of the people."[2]

Patriarch Kirill and the Russian President Vladimir Putin at the opening of the Wall of Grief memorial. (Source: Kremlin.ru)

A major participant in the solemn ceremony was Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, who took the opportunity to express his views on the centenary of the Bolshevik revolution of 1917. The Patriarch stated that the events that ensued during the Bolshevik Revolution could explain the 20th century repressions that came later. However, the Patriarch's speech, was less an analysis of the Bolshevik Revolution and more an apparent warning against future color revolutions against the Kremlin. Indeed, he warned the new generations against repeating historic errors.

On November 1, in a lengthy address before the 21st World Russian People’s Council in Moscow, the Patriarch reiterated that Russian society should learn from its "mistakes" and remain united, avoiding the trap of fomenting new political revolutions as in 1917. The Patriarch further openly warned against color revolutions, which have become a "technological concept", defining the "forceful change of power" and justifying the "violation of the Constitution" and "norms of international law." Here he was very much on the same page as Putin and his surrogates.

Recently, on November 7, the head of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations, Metropolitan Hilarion channeled Patriach Kirill's views when interviewed on the Rossiya-24 TV channel. "Russia could have achieved much more, if it had developed in an evolutionary, not revolutionary way," said the hierarch.[3]

Patriarch Kirill and the Russian President Vladimir Putin at the opening of the Wall of Grief memorial. (Source: Kremlin.ru)

Below are excerpts of the Patriarch's recent speeches on the Bolshevik revolution:

Patriarch Kirill: 'The Dream Grew Over Into A Nightmare'; 'The Current Generation Does Not Have The Right To Repeat The Mistakes Of History'

During the ceremony, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill I said:

"The year of centenary of the Russian revolution offers an important occasion for understanding [repressions of the 20th century]. As we look into this tragedy, we’re asking ourselves how it could happen that children of the same country, neighbors, fellow-workers persecuted and killed one another, how the momentous idea of building a world of freedom and fairness led up to bloodletting and lawlessness? At that time, people dreamed of a world without exploitation, poverty or war, about a world of peace where science would resolve the problems and cure all the illnesses but the dream grew over into a nightmare for many, many people."

He then added: "Where did the error lurk? Was it because people were seeking to build a humane and fair society upon denial of spiritual fundamentals of human life and subjugating morality to ideology, which led to justification of acts of cruelty on the way to building the radiant future. Departure from the standards of morality always breeds crisis."[4]

The prelate warned Russia's new generations against succumbing to the same historic mistakes, i.e. starting new color revolution: "The current generation does not have the right to repeat the mistakes of history. Hatred should not lead us in our quest to build a peaceful, just, and prosperous life."[5] He then added: "The tragic pages of our history should not serve as pretexts for fanning animosity or for a buildup of tensions. And condemnation of terror should not turn from an act of morality into a political ritual."[6]

Patriarch Kirill: 'Color Revolutions Have Become A Technological Concept… Justifying The Violation Of The Constitution'

A few days later, on November 1, Patriarch Kirill returned to the topic when he delivered a speech at the 21st World Russian People’s Council in Moscow. In his speech, the Patriarch stressed that with the passage of years Russian society distanced itself from the Bolshevik revolution. Contemporary Russian society should cherish its national unity and steer clear of the "political radicalism" that could lead to color revolutions.[7]

The Patriarch said: "During the last 100 years our society reached a certain maturity and distanced itself historically enough from 1917 - this enables us to speak in a more balanced and meaningful manner without avoiding some judgment and without politicizing the issue superfluously."

"It is hard to deny that the revolution was a tragedy: a civil war, when one brother killed another, the death and expulsion of millions of people, huge spiritual and material losses. The most horrifying thing is that, during the revolutionary struggle, the seeds of hatred and evil were sown in human souls. Currently, we can only painfully observe how the same hatred is resurrecting itself in other regions of the contemporary world – both in faraway countries as well as amongst the most kindred peoples, amongst our brothers" [apparently referring to Ukraine].

"But this hatred has a different ideological garb today and is connecting with drawing new and intensifying the old dividing lines on the planet, with the growth of global inequality and justifying it, by cultivating artificial differences in the societies. These processes are already unconnected to the ideas of the original revolution - they have different ideological roots.

"Despite the rapid growth in the number of conflicts, wars and revolutions in the world, Russia retains enough strength to be an island of stability in this dangerous stream and to continue along its historical path."

"Today, our society is consolidated and there is no tragic civil gap, which [back then] divided the people in two. On the contrary, today we learn again to cheer the national unity and reconciliation.

"This unity and reconciliation ensure us that the country and the society won't stumble and won't rupture into the historical divide as happened back in 1917. Russian history does not go round in circles. We learn from our mistakes. We received immunity to all forms of political radicalism – for us as never before, consensus, is important shared values are important. What unites us - is important rather than what divides us. By cultivating and building the internal peace Russia may serve as an example and moral support for anyone who wants to survive the current crisis.

"The international community is very close today to the historical features, defining the beginning of a new epoch – an age of a great change in peoples' lives, especially the change of the worldview. The new age is coming inevitably, because the limits of globalization have been reached, thus the crisis in its unifying criteria has already emerged. This does not mean that the values of democracy, humanism, and human rights will totally disappear from our lives, but they will cease depending on some abstract, global standards. Every cultural – historical subject will have to seek internal support in its own traditions, a support, necessary for development and progress and will have to seek its own model of modernization, roots of its social institutes system.

"The same thing that applies to the life of a private individual applies to the life of a nation – the belief in social institutions and legal mechanism is dead without moral praxis, without an ability to do the right thing. In this case, this belief leads only to chasing the chimers, the elusive mirages of happiness and freedom. And it leads to uncountable human victims.

"We witness eloquent examples of faith without deeds and deeds without faith - both in the history of Europe and in our Russian history. These are world wars, and revolutions unleashed by the world's powerful. It begins with the French Revolution, which solidified new values in the minds of European peoples, and ends with a series of revolutions of the 20th century. This topic is all the more important because revolutions are currently being mass produced. The so-called 'color revolutions' have become a technological concept, defining the change of power by force and justifying the violation of the Constitution and norms of international law.

"However, despite the fact that the revolution has become just a common technique, its ideologues still rely on quasi-religious rhetoric, they try to justify the revolution as a spiritually lofty, and morally justified act. At the same time, modern revolutionaries, like their predecessors, always sacrifice a part of their own people - through the very logic of the revolutionary process - for the sake of achieving abstract benefits.

"The selective approach of such revolutionaries and their handlers to international norms shows that behind the beautiful facade of legal justifications there are in fact double standards, the desire not to subordinate to the power of laws but, on the contrary, to subordinate others to the right of the strongest, to interfere in internal matters of the sovereign states.

"Revolutions are generally conducted 'from above' – by the elites, which are driving and intoxicating people with their destructive energy. It may be the people's "own elite", uprooted from the traditions, and it may be a foreign elite, driven by colonial interests. The common people are organically disinclined to conductions revolutions – on the contrary the common people are the guardian of traditions without this hindering their desire to attain social justice…

"So, here the question arises regarding the quality of the elite that must be faithful to their own people and be replenished by talented people 'from below', without being constrained by the interests of external global players.

Today Russia looks for the 'shape of the future'. I think the shape of the future is a shape of people and elites which are mutually complimentary. The elites are not above the people. The elites are individuals who take the responsibility for the fates of the country, who equate their own interests with the interests of the state. The elites and the people should be a single undivided whole.

"Thus, it's impossible to 'appoint elites artificially. We need a base from which the current elite is drawn. In order to nurture the elite we need to nurture the people, to nurture society, to invest resources in it. If we don't nurture our own people – others will [he refers apparently to foreign/external forces]…

"Revolutions pretend to create a 'new man' – they strive to break the traditional, Christian core inside a man, to 'reforge him. The struggle of the revolutionaries with traditions and culture stem from this very logic. But this is a dead end, it leads to denial and fragmentation…

"If in the 21st century we want to be a flourishing country, respected by other states and which has a future, if we want to avoid revolutionary catastrophes and civil confrontation – we should not forget our historical experience, we should not renounce our historical fate."

Patriarch Kirill: It All Began 'When People Lost Their Internal Sovereignty'

On November 4, after Saturday's liturgy in the Kremlin, the Patriarch went on speaking about the revolution. He stated that the cause of the Bolshevik revolution had its roots in events that took place 200 years earlier, when people began denying the sovereignty of states and governments.[8]

The Patriarch said: "If we sweep aside the entire political environment connected with the events of a century ago, if we detach ourselves from this ideological view, then by this impartial view we will see a great deal, and we will understand that the beginning of our national illnesses, which led to the catastrophe a century ago, began not a year, not five years, not ten years, but at least 200 years, and perhaps even more, beforehand, when they began to destroy the spiritual foundations of the life of our enlightened society, of the so-called elite."

According to the Patriarch, it all began "when people lost their internal sovereignty, giving their minds and souls to that which came from outside, receiving these signals from outside uncritically, exposing their faith, worldview, and view on life to these ideas."

Patriarch Kirill: 'If There's Liberty, Then There Can Be No Equality'

During his Pastor's Word television program, the Patriarch also commented on the slogan of the French revolution "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" (Liberté, égalité, fraternité). The slogan, as mentioned by the Russian news agency Interfax, became "rooted in the psyche" of the Russian intelligentsia.[9]

The Patriarch said: "If there's liberty, then there can be no equality. Because liberty is just a meadow upon which flowers and grass grow, with each blade rising to the best of its ability. There is no equality: one is stronger, the other is weaker, and there is no sign of the third at all. But equality, it is a mown lawn, everyone is equal but there is no freedom…

"If our unfortunate intellectuals had thought of it earlier, if this kind of comparison had occurred to them, if this kind of comparison could have been disseminated in mass consciousness, then maybe one would have paid closer attention to this seductive motto - equality, fraternity, liberty - because then the revolution would have been carried out primarily for the sake of liberty."

[1] The monument depicts faceless victims of the Soviet-era. The monument was realized by sculptor Georgy Frangulyan, who designed the monument.

[2] Kremlin.ru, October 30, 2017.

[3] Interfax-religion.com, November 7, 2017.

[4] Tass.com, October 31, 2017.

[5] See Putin and Patriarch Kirill Open "Wall of Sorrow" In Memory of Victims of Bolshevik Repression

[6] Tass.com, October 31, 2017.

[7] Patriarchia.ru, November 1, 2017.

[8] Orthochristian.com, November 7, 2017; Interfax.ru, November 4, 2017.

[9] Interfax.ru, October 30, 2017; Interfax-religion.com, October 31, 2017.