Graphics Advances Make Identifying Real Images Difficult

destinyland writes "The FBI's geeks admitted they were nervous over computer-generated images at a recent forensics conference. In court they're now arguing that a jury 'can tell' if an image is real or computer-generated — which marks the current boundary between legal and illegal. But reporter Debbie Nathan argues that that distinction is getting fuzzy, and that geeks will inevitably make it obsolete." Note: some of the linked (computer-generated) images may be disturbing.

Comments

Re:with that tagline

[xaxa]

A computer generated baby (clothed ;-)
http://debbienathan.com.nyud.net:8080/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/display_16329441.jpg

I couldn't get the rest of the images into the Corel Cache before the server went down completely.

Here's the text from the blog post:

Child porn: real or virtual? A day in the burbs and the forensics conference

(ALL IMAGES IN THIS POST ARE COMPUTER GENERATED)

To go right to the real or virtual article, skip all the emo in italics. I wont be offended!

A funny thing happened to me this weekend in Huntington, Long Island. Iâ(TM)d taken a commuter train there from Manhattan, to interview someone in a neighborhood thatâ(TM)s walking distance from the local railroad station. (In case youre wondering why I havent posted lately, Im really busy with other work these days. Why else would I go to Huntington?) So I was hoofing it down New York Avenue when a cabbie screeched up and offered me a ride â" for free. âoeThanks,â I said, leaning into his window. âoeBut why?â âoeBecause you have to pass the day-labor site. Thereâ(TM)s lots of men there from Central America. They yell bad words to women going by.â

Iâ(TM)m 57 years old and slowly shrinking, maybe, but people seldom mistake me for a shrinking violet. I can deal with a few catcalls and âoeMamiâ(TM)sâ (assuming my wrinkled old self could evoke them in the first place). I tried to elucidate my philosophy to the driver: Itâ(TM)s always worth a few bad words to learn about stuff â" then communicate the stuff to others.

Well lah-dee-dah, youâ(TM)re probably saying. Nice story, but whatâ(TM)s the point? Especially when the real subject of this post isChild Porn®.

So hereâ(TM)s the point. Lately, when it comes to writing about child pornography issues, I suspect Iâ(TM)ve caught Huntingtonâ(TM)s Taxi Disease from my colleagues in the journalism biz. I notice that whenever I get an urge to report on the subject, I start worrying that if I publish it, Iâ(TM)ll hear âoebad wordsâ from people from âoeCentral-Weirdo Americaâ â" people who actually like child porn. Iâ(TM)ll have to read their emails (some of which make interesting points about free speech, the fourth amendment, government repression, etc.), then decide whether or not to post them. And if I post, the journos of MSM-villeâ"my colleagues! might look askance. After all, some have already told me that they, themselves, will not write about child pornography for precisely this reason: it freaks them out to get follow-up email from the pedos.

Iâ(TM)m also afraid my colleagues will tsk-tsk about why I write about this icky subject in the first place. âoeIs she obsessed or something?â they could be thinking. Perhaps they ask why I donâ(TM)t insert boiler plate into the first paragraphs of my articles. Riffs like, âoeOf course, child porn is the most horrible thing in the world, and the people involved deserve strong punishment.â This is supposed to show everyone the writer is a normal person who does not want to hear from pedos. I try to avoid such verbiage because I think itâ(TM)s knee jerk and stupid. Besides, Iâ(TM)m extremely reluctant to close off communication with anyone. I get some of my best tips about the malfunctioning of our various civic institutions from people close to those institutions â" who are often criminals, both apprehended and as yet uncaught. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022100/">M is still one of my favorite movies.)

I went to a conference a couple months ago where law enforcement officials gave fascinating presentations

Re:Why does it matter?

[morgan_greywolf]

So they cut out the possibility of an innocent person and make virtual images mean the same thing in the eyes of the law as the real deal.

Read what I wrote. Then go back and RTFA.

Let's say I take a picture of you. Then, I work some magic on the picture and combine it with a naked child.

Then I use a trojan or other malware to put the photo on your laptop.

Then I suggest to the police that you may be carrying child pr0n on your laptop, that's why you fly to China every month.

At the airport, DHS searches your laptop and finds the picture.

That clear enough for you?

Re:Had to deal with this in a jury

[DeanFox]

1) In a jury you follow the rule of law. According to the law, he was guilty. No. The fist job of a jury is to determine if the law is just (jury nullification). Then you find if the defendant did something wrong enough to be punished.

-[d]-