Technology
The Italian authorities are probing deep-seated telegram bots
The Italian Data Protection Regulator has begun an investigation into the extensive use of bots that produce false nude photos on the Telegram Messaging App. The news follows an analysis by the security company Sensity, which found that as of July 2020 more than 100,000 fake photos had been created and posted on public Telegram networks.
Bots may create fake nudes with watermarks or displaying only partial nudity, and users pay to "reveal" the whole pic. Users may upload a picture of a woman to the bot and obtain a version of the photo back with "removed" clothes with no sign that the image had been changed. And according to Sensity, a small number of bot-generated photos, most of which are taken from and exploited by social media users, are victims that appeared to be underage.
Sensity found that fake nudes were created by DeepNude software that appeared online last year. According to Sensity, however, the program has been re-engineered and is commonly available on open source repositories and torrenting websites. However, Sensity claims that the program has been re-engineered and is widely available on open source repositories and websites.
The ease of use of this software makes anybody with a picture on the web potentially victims of deep fakes, the Italian Agency said in a statement on Friday (in Italian) announcing its investigation of the matter. It plans to ask Telegram to supply information to check that, according to its announcement, it complies with the data security regulations.
