How democracies can claim back power in the digital world

Deepfake Putin is here to warn Americans about their self-inflicted doom 

Sponsored by Dassault Systèmes The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology 09.30.20 Good morning! Today: how democracies can wrest back power from Big Tech, and deepfakes of Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un are here to warn Americans about their upcoming election. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. How democracies can claim back power in the digital world   Should Twitter censor lies tweeted by the US president? Should Facebook do more against hate speech? Such questions, which crop up daily in media coverage, can make it seem as if the main technologically-driven risk to democracies is the curation of content by social-media companies. Yet these controversies are merely symptoms of a larger threat: the depth of privatized power over the digital world. Every democratic country in the world faces the same challenge, but none can defuse it alone. We need a global democratic alliance to set norms, rules, and guidelines for technology companies and to agree on protocols for cross-border digital activities including election interference, cyberwar, and online trade. Citizens are better represented when a coalition of their governments—rather than a handful of corporate executives—define the terms of governance, and when checks, balances, and oversight mechanisms are in place. Here’s how that could work.  By Marietje Schaake, the international policy director at Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Center and former Member of the European Parliament for the Dutch liberal democratic party. Deepfake Putin is here to warn Americans about their self-inflicted doom   The news: Two political ads are broadcasting on social media, featuring deepfake versions of Russian president Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Both deepfake leaders will be giving the same message: that America doesn’t need any election interference from them; it will ruin its democracy by itself.  What are they for? They’re part of a campaign from the nonpartisan advocacy group RepresentUs to protect voting rights during the upcoming US presidential election, amid president Trump’s attacks on mail-in voting and suggestions that he may refuse a peaceful transition. The goal is to shock Americans into understanding the fragility of democracy. How they were made: RepresentUs worked with the creative agency Mischief at No Fixed Address. They filmed two actors with the right face shape and accents to recite the script. They then worked with a deepfake artist who used an open-source algorithm to swap in Putin’s and Kim’s faces. A post-production crew cleaned up the leftover artifacts of the algorithm to make the video look more realistic. All in all the process took only 10 days. Read the full story. —Karen Hao We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction in these weird times. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.)   + It’s Fat Bear Week at Katmai National Park! Get voting.   + Some parrots in a UK wildlife park taught each other to swear during lockdown.   + A Mom accidentally ordered the French language version of the Peppa Pig dinner set for her kid.   + Harry Potter fans were left disappointed as a commuter train blocked their view of the Hogwarts Express. Sponsor Message Science powering a sustainable and resilient world Join Dassault Systèmes at Science in the Age of Experience – an exclusive, virtual science and technology event, starting October 13, 2020. Hear how industry leaders, renowned scientists/academics, government leaders, heads of private institutions and Dassault Systèmes executives and experts will set the course for a more efficient, innovative and sustainable future. Some of the most highly sought-after leaders in science and technology will join us – including our conference keynote, Nobel Prize Winner, Dr. Frances Arnold of Caltech. Request registration. The top ten must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 How AI can—and can’t—help in the race for a vaccine 💉 It’s helped speed up the process of finding candidates, but there’s no replacement for human trials. (IEEE Spectrum)   + How the coronavirus attacks the entire body. (Axios)   + You can’t rely on “herd immunity” to save you. (NYT $)   + Has covid-19 become less dangerous? (Unherd)  2 Thinking of eating indoors? Read this Along with bars, restaurants are one of the riskiest places you can be right now. (Elemental)   3 Denmark plans to cut carbon emissions by 70% by 2030 And it claims it can do so without compromising welfare benefits. (Reuters)   + One in four homes in Australia have rooftop solar panels. (NYT $)  4 Far-right groups are celebrating Trump’s call to “stand by” on social media Channels devoted to neo-Nazis and white supremacists took Trump’s comment during yesterday's debate as a signal of support.(WP $)   + People really did not enjoy the debate. At all. (CNET)  5 Injury rates in Amazon warehouses are soaring And the rapid adoption of robots seems to be to blame. (Reveal)   + Amazon has launched technology that lets you pay with your palm. (Recode)  6 Companies are giving their employees Zoom-free days The fatigue is real. (WSJ $)   + Microsoft thinks you’ve been missing your commute. (WSJ $)  7 We’re on the cusp of being able to end deafness 👂  But should we? (OneZero)   8 Palantir goes public today But is it really worth its $20 billion valuation? (NY Mag)   + How the LAPD constructed a vast database to track citizens using Palantir’s software. (Buzzfeed)  9 Colleges are paying their students to promote covid-19 safety online 🤳 It’s not being universally well-received by their peers. (NYT $)   + Authenticity is the key to success on TikTok. (CNET)   + We increasingly prize relatability in YouTube stars, too. (Vox)  10 Some families are “roadschooling” 🚙 If everyone can work and learn remotely, why not live a nomadic lifestyle? (WSJ $)  Not an expert? Not a problem.  Our team is full of those. Subscribe to MIT Technology Review today for an insightful look into technology for the future without getting bogged down by the jargon. Take a stand “It was like coming home. Everyone was smiling all the time.” —Lighting designer Ken Billington tells the New York Times how it felt to work on London’s first fully staged indoor musical post-lockdown. Top image credit: MS TECH | GETTY Please send fat bears to hi@technologyreview.com. Follow me on Twitter at @charlottejee. 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