Francesca Rudkin: McClure's AI deepfake bill is a common sense move

It’s not often you will hear me unreservedly champion an ACT policy, but I am all in when it comes to their concern and policy response to sexually explicit deepfakes.  

The US and UK are leading the way with legislative changes on this, New Zealand law lagging well behind.  

ACT MP Laura McClure has prepared a bill to restrict the generation and sharing of sexually explicit deepfakes. Recently she announced "The Deepfake Digital Harm and Exploitation Bill expands existing legislation around revenge porn and intimate recordings, and ensures that those who produce or share deepfakes without consent face criminal accountability, and victims have clear pathways to seek redress and removal of harmful content."

This is a common sense move in a tech area which is so fast moving that we’re always playing catch up. Once upon a time we warned our children about nude pics. When it became apparent some just couldn’t help themselves, the recommended advice became that if they were sending pics, they should avoid showing identifiable features – you know, like their faces.

The imagery that technology can now create in mere minutes far exceeds the considerable peril posed by the consented nude pic. Kiwi born Bloomburg journalist Olivia Carville has dedicated her career to unearthing the dark side of tech and the internet, and in her recent podcast Levittown focuses on the rise of deepfake pornography, and the battle to stop it.

In the podcast she tells the story of how photos of young women were doctored without their consent, they were then shared on a website where men were encouraged to discuss what they would like to do to these women. It’s all a bit much for a Saturday morning I know, but it’s a fascinating podcast worth listening too, and even though it’s a New York story it has a crazy New Zealand twist to it.

The point is though, the harm and trauma that comes from sexualised AI deep fakes is real and impactful, and victims must have legal grounds to do something about it. But it’s also about public clarity and drawing a strong line under what not acceptable. It’s thought 90- 95% of online deepfake videos are non-consensual pornography, and around 90% of them feature women. 

McClures bill is a member's bill at this stage, but she has written to the Minister of Justice urging that the bill is adopted as a Government bill. 

I hope they take her up on her offer. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Tamee podcast
from News Talks at b Right.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
It is not often you will hear me unreservedly champion
in act policy, but I am all in when it
comes to their concern and policy response to sexually explicit
deep fakes. The US and the UK are leading the
way with legislative changes on this new Zealand law lagging
well behind ACDMP Laura McClure has prepared a bill to

(00:36):
restrict the generation and sharing of sexually explicit deep fakes.
So recently she announced the deep Fake Digital Harm and
Exploitation Bill, expands existing legislation around revenge porn and intimate
recordings and ensures that those who produce or share deep
fakes without consent faced criminal accountability and victims have clear
pathways to seek redress and removal of harmful content. This

(01:02):
is a common sense move in a tech area which
is so fast moving that we're always playing catch up.
Once upon a time, we warned our children about nude pics.
When it became apparent some just couldn't help themselves. The
recommended advice became that if they were going to send picks,
they should avoid showing identifiable features, you know, like their faces.

(01:23):
The imagery that technology can now create in mere minutes
far exceeds the considerable peril posed by the consented nude pic.
Ken we Born Bloomberg journalist Olivia Carvell has dedicated her
career to unearthing the dark side of the tech of
tech and the Internet, and in her recent podcast, Levettown

(01:45):
focuses on the rise of deep fake pornography and the
battle to stop it. In the podcast, she tells a
story of how photographs of young women were doctored without
their consent, then they were shared on a website where
men were encouraged to discuss what they would like to
do to these women. I know it's all a bit
much for a Sunday morning, but it is a fascinating
podcast worth listening to, and even though it is a

(02:07):
New York story, it has a crazy New Zealand twist
to it. The point is, though the harm and trauma
that comes from sexualized AI deep fakes is real and impactful,
and victims must have legal grounds to do something about it,
but it's also about public clarity and drawing a strong

(02:27):
line under what's not acceptable. It's thought ninety to ninety
five percent of online deep fake videos are non consensual pornography,
and around ninety percent of them feature women. McClure's bill
is a member's bill at this stage, which she has
written to the Minister of Justice urging that the bill
is adopted as a government bill and I hope they

(02:49):
take up her offer.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
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