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Pentagon Says Improper Image Morphing is War Crime
mwdib writes "Here's a story in Federal Computing Week in which the Pentagon decides that certain forms of computer morphing could be war crimes." It was hard not to file this under "humor," but Federal Computer Week is a serious publication that almost always gets its stories straight. So loonie as this may seem, it's not a joke.
Hello--this is Bill Gates. I would like to address all of my loyal windows troops tonight and let you know that the war against unix is over.
I don't think this is loony at all. After reading the article (remember that? The chips and Dips crew did :). It is already a War Crime to impersonate a leader calling off the troops or falsifying information about treaties and ceasefires -- as the article hints, it violates perfidity -- why should an electronic version be any different?
There have ben no cases I know of of actors being arrested for war crimes by impersonating presidents, just as I predict there will be no cases of digital artists arrested for war crimes by morphing world leaders. It's not the technology, it's not even the application, it's the intent. I think you're playing with fire when you broadcast ANY image (technologically created or otherwise) of a world leader calling off troops during a time of war...
Three Step Plan:
1. Take over the world.
2. Get a lot of cookies.
3. Eat the cookies.
"Rules of Engagement" are as old as conflict itself, and as silly as it might sound, they're better than nothing at all.
:).
In regards to this particular gem, i'm not entirely sure how this is a "new" revelation - impersonating enemy leaders has always been "illegal", in any form - whether it be cardboard cutouts or professional actors.
Digital imaging is just another form of said impersonation. Why, exactly, did we need a study to show this to be true? Ah, the tax money hard at work.
This is a little off topic, but there's always room for informational links on the Laws of War, so i say
What are the rules of Engagement? - about.com
Y! - The Rules of War
Rules of Warfare - Arms Control
The Geneva Convention(s) - Modern "Laws of War".
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| big bad mr. frosty
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Personally, I think the idea of laws of war are silly.
For everything that is forbidden, there are dozens that are far more terrible.
Expanding bullets are forbidden, but shrapnel is okay. It would be horribly wrong for the American soldiers to use bullets that explode (or even mushroom out to double width) when they hit an enemy body, but they are now planning to replace their M-16s with weapons that use sophisticated laser rangefinders and electronic fuses to fire bullets which explode as close as possible to an enemy soldier (in addition to firing conventional steel-jacketed bullets similar to those used in the M-16). However, I'm sure the targets will appreciate the distinction.
The Japanese were not playing fair because of the way they treated prisoners, but it was okay for the US to nuke cities, slaughtering the civilian populations and effectively torturing thousands to death.
The Vietnamese were wrong to treat POW's as they would treat anyone else who ran around "their country" shooting people, but it was fine for the Americans to try to counter guerilla tactics by mass defoliation of the land (with dangerous long-lasting poisons) and air-dumping countless mines that are still killing civilians.
I'm not trying to defend the USA's enemies, just point out the irrationality of the laws of war.
Using a computer to impersonate a head of state to relay false messages could be a war crime. So what?
This is simply recognition of a potential use of computer image manipulation. They aren't saying in any way that "morphing" in general is a war crime.
You could probably commit a war crime with turnips, too.
The old saying, "All's fair in love and war," isn't quite true. The Geneva Convention makes certain types of war effectively illegal (at least insofar as nobody's really in a position to enforce it), and it's there for a good reason.
This refers to using digital morphing techniques in a clearly deceptive manner - say, to "announce" a cessation of hostilities, so $VILLAIN can launch a sneak attack on $GOODGUYS, catching them unprepared and making it an easy slaughter.
War, like software development, is an imprecise art. But there are rules, and most of them are there for good reasons.
Vovida, OS VoIP
Beer recipe: free! #Source
Cold pints: $2 #Product