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Re: Ady Barkan and deep fake of his words

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From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Sep 2, 2020 12:34PM

If the original interview was a public event it should have had live
captions (per WCAG 1.2.4).
Those could have been archived and presented as evidence when his
words were altered.
I mean, this goes much deeper than a WCAG violation, and this sort of
behavior should leave any decent human being (and most human beings
that are only semi decent) speechless.
But if one were to claim ADA/accessibility having an effect, this is
the one scenario I can think of.


On 9/2/20, <EMAIL REMOVED> < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> I have no intention of getting into a political debate on this forum, but I
> have to bring up a disgraceful insult that a political cadre made toward
> someone with ALS.
>
> Ady Barkan is a prominent lawyer with ALS who uses a speech synthesizer.
> The
> audio transcript of an interview he conducted was altered so that it
> appears
> he said things that he claims he never did say.
>
> You can read his editorial in Today's Washington Post online at
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/09/02/ady-barkan-op-ed-scalise-
> video
>
> What I'm concerned about is how easy it was to take the audio file of his
> synthesized words, locate the same synthesizer, and change what he said.
>
> Ok, I'm not naive. Political hacks and forgeries have been the mainstay of
> campaigns for longer than I've been in Washington DC. But at least with a
> photo or video clip, there are telltale forensic signs when something has
> been altered.
>
> But what has me concerned are:
>
> 1. Incredible life-saving technology, designed for someone with a
> disability, was used against him.
> 2. The public couldn't tell that the version aired on TV was faked and
> altered. It's literally Ady's word today, against his altered words in the
> digital audio clip.
>
> Maybe there's an ADA lawsuit in there somewhere? About how an assistive
> technology was used to malign someone with a disability?
>
> Such a sad reflection on our society.
>
> - - -
>
> Bevi Chagnon | Designer, Accessibility Technician | <EMAIL REMOVED>
> <mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> >
>
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>
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>
> > > > >


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