Christye Sisson, an associate professor of photographic sciences at the Rochester Institute of Technology. is a government-funded university researcher in the field of fake videos. She noticed that people believe even very obviously fake videos. Since her job is crafting as realistic as possible fakes, this observation surprised her. That got her thinking. She surmised that folks buy into even very obvious fakes when those fake videos reinforce existing beliefs. This is an example of a long-recognized phenomenon know as confirmation bias.
This also demonstrates why InfoSec folks trying to tackle the Fake News world absolutely must include human factors team members with expertise in psychology, cognition, learning, and the use of propaganda. Tech knowledge alone can definitely screw up the world, but that knowledge, alone, can rarely fix it.
Read her article, 09.14.199:00 AM:
I create fake videos. Here’s why people believe even the obvious ones
People will accept anything as true if it confirms their beliefs—regardless of whether a video or image has obviously been manipulated.
The above post, (c) 2019, was originally published on my blog.
@CraginS wrote:Christye Sisson, an associate professor of photographic sciences at the Rochester Institute of Technology. is a government-funded university researcher in the field of fake videos. She noticed that people believe even very obviously fake videos. Since her job is crafting as realistic as possible fakes, this observation surprised her. That got her thinking. She surmised that folks buy into even very obvious fakes when those fake videos reinforce existing beliefs. This is an example of a long-recognized phenomenon know as confirmation bias.
Interesting, how faith can actually blind people to fakes. The majority of folks I know are prone to accept what they see in forwarded vids, and proceed to share these with others --- so it's easy to see how someone could exploit this.
I shared the article on FastCompany with friends on WhatsApp, but probably few will be interested in reading it. Skepticism in the wrong direction, I guess...