#FactCheck - Viral Video of Argentina Football Team Dancing to Bhojpuri Song is Misleading

Introduction

Data protection has been a critical aspect of advocacy and governance all across the world. Data fuels our cyber-ecosystem and strengthens the era of emerging technologies. All industries and sectors are now dependent upon the data of the user. The governments across the world have been deliberating internally to address the issue and legality of Data protection and privacy. The Indian government has witnessed various draft bills and policies focusing on Data protection over the years, and the contemporary bill is the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023, which was tabled at the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) on 03 August for discussions and parliamentary assent.

What is DPDP, 2023?

The goal of the complete and comprehensive Digital Personal Data Protection Bill of 2023 is to establish a framework for the protection of personal data in India. The measure acknowledges the significance of protecting personal data and seeks to strike a balance between the necessity to process personal data for legitimate purposes and the right of individuals to do so. The bill establishes a number of crucial expressions and ideas associated with the protection of personal data, including “data fiduciary,” “data principal,” and “sensitive personal data.” It also emphasises the duties of data fiduciaries, including the need to establish suitable security measures to preserve personal data and the need to secure data principals’ consent before processing their personal information. The measure also creates the Data Protection Board of India, which would implement its requirements and guarantee data fiduciaries’ compliance. The board will have the authority to look into grievances, give directives, and impose sanctions for non-compliance.

Key Features of the Bill

The bill tabled at the parliament has the following key features:

• The 2023 bill imposes reasonable obligations on data fiduciaries and data processors to safeguard digital personal data.
• Under the 2023 bill, a new Data Protection Board is established, which will ensure compliance, remedies and penalties.
• Under the new bill, the Board has been entrusted with the power equivalent to a civil court, such as the power to take cognisance in response to personal data breaches, investigate complaints, imposing penalties. Additionally, the Board can issue directions to ensure compliance with the act.
• The 2023 bill also secures more rights of Individuals and establishes a balance between user protection and growing innovations.
• The bill creates a transparent and accountable data governance framework by giving more rights to individuals.
• There is an Incorporation of Business-friendly provisions by removing criminal penalties for non-compliance and facilitating international data transfers.
• The new 2023 bill balances out fundamental privacy rights and puts reasonable limitations on those rights.
• The new data protection board will carefully examine the instance of non-compliance by imposing penalties on non-compiler.
• The bill does not provide any express clarity in regards to compensation to be granted to the Data Principal in case of a Data Breach.
• Under 2023 Deemed consent is there in its new form as ‘Legitimate Users’ pertaining to the conditions in regard to Sovernity and Intergrity of India.
• There is an introduction of the negative list, which restricts cross-data transfer.

Additionally, the measure makes special provisions for the processing of children’s personal data and acknowledges the significance of protecting children’s privacy. Additionally, it highlights the rights of the data subjects, including their right to access their personal information, their right to have wrong information corrected, and their right to be forgotten.

Drive4CyberPeace

A campaign was undertaken by CyberPeace to gain a critical understanding of what people understand about Data privacy and protection in India. The 4-month long campaign led to a pan-India interaction with netizens from different areas and backgrounds. The thoughts and opinions of the netizens were understood and collated in the form of a whitepaper which was, in turn, presented to Parliamentarians and government officials. The whitepaper laid the foundation of the recommendations submitted to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology as part of the stakeholder consultation.

Conclusion

Overall, the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill of 2023 is an important step towards safeguarding Indian citizens’ privacy and personal data. It creates a regulatory agency to guarantee compliance and enforcement and offers a thorough framework for data protection. The law includes special measures for the protection of sensitive personal data and the personal data of children and acknowledges the significance of striking a balance between the right to privacy and the necessity of data processing.

Introduction

With the rise of AI deepfakes and manipulated media, it has become difficult for the average internet user to know what they can trust online. Synthetic media can have serious consequences, from virally spreading election disinformation or medical misinformation to serious consequences like revenge porn and financial fraud. Recently, a Pune man lost ₹43 lakh when he invested money based on a deepfake video of Infosys founder Narayana Murthy. In another case, that of Babydoll Archi, a woman from Assam had her likeness deepfaked by an ex-boyfriend to create revenge porn.

Image or video manipulation used to leave observable traces. Online sources may advise examining the edges of objects in the image, checking for inconsistent patterns, lighting differences, observing the lip movements of the speaker in a video or counting the number of fingers on a person’s hand. Unfortunately, as the technology improves, such folk advice might not always help users identify synthetic and manipulated media.

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The Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA)

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One interesting project in the area of trust-building under these circumstances has been the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA). Started in 2019 by Adobe and Microsoft, C2PA is a collaboration between major players in AI, social media, journalism, and photography, among others. It set out to create a standard for publishers of digital media to prove the authenticity of digital media and track changes as they occur.

When photos and videos are captured, they generally store metadata like the date and time of capture, the location, the device it was taken on, etc. C2PA developed a standard for sharing and checking the validity of this metadata, and adding additional layers of metadata whenever a new user makes any edits. This creates a digital record of any and all changes made. Additionally, the original media is bundled with this metadata. This makes it easy to verify the source of the image and check if the edits change the meaning or impact of the media. This standard allows different validation software, content publishers and content creation tools to be interoperable in terms of maintaining and displaying proof of authenticity.

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The standard is intended to be used on an opt-in basis and can be likened to a nutrition label for digital media. Importantly, it does not limit the creativity of fledgling photo editors or generative AI enthusiasts; it simply provides consumers with more information about the media they come across.

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Could C2PA be Useful in an Indian Context?

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The World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report 2024, identifies India as a significant hotspot for misinformation. The recent AI Regulation report by MeitY indicates an interest in tools for watermarking AI-based synthetic content for ease of detecting and tracking harmful outcomes. Perhaps C2PA can be useful in this regard as it takes a holistic approach to tracking media manipulation, even in cases where AI is not the medium.

Currently, 26 India-based organisations like the Times of India or Truefy AI have signed up to the Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI), a community that contributes to the development and adoption of tools and standards like C2PA. However, people are increasingly using social media sites like WhatsApp and Instagram as sources of information, both of which are owned by Meta and have not yet implemented the standard in their products.

India also has low digital literacy rates and low resistance to misinformation. Part of the challenge would be showing people how to read this nutrition label, to empower people to make better decisions online. As such, C2PA is just one part of an online trust-building strategy. It is crucial that education around digital literacy and policy around organisational adoption of the standard are also part of the strategy.

The standard is also not foolproof. Current iterations may still struggle when presented with screenshots of digital media and other non-technical digital manipulation. Linking media to their creator may also put journalists and whistleblowers at risk. Actual use in context will show us more about how to improve future versions of digital provenance tools, though these improvements are not guarantees of a safer internet.

The largest advantage of C2PA adoption would be the democratisation of fact-checking infrastructure. Since media is shared at a significantly faster rate than it can be verified by professionals, putting the verification tools in the hands of people makes the process a lot more scalable. It empowers citizen journalists and leaves a public trail for any media consumer to look into.

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Conclusion

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From basic colour filters to make a scene more engaging, to removing a crowd from a social media post, to editing together videos of a politician to make it sound like they are singing a song, we are so accustomed to seeing the media we consume be altered in some way. The C2PA is just one way to bring transparency to how media is altered. It is not a one-stop solution, but it is a viable starting point for creating a fairer and democratic internet and increasing trust online. While there are risks to its adoption, it is promising to see that organisations across different sectors are collaborating on this project to be more transparent about the media we consume.

References

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• https://c2pa.org/
• https://contentauthenticity.org/
• https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-news-technology/kate-middleton-9-signs-edited-photo-9211799/  
• https://photography.tutsplus.com/articles/fakes-frauds-and-forgeries-how-to-detect-image-manipulation--cms-22230
• https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/detect-fakes/overview/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO0WvudbO04&pp=0gcJCbAJAYcqIYzv
• https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_Global_Risks_Report_2024.pdf
• https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-news-technology/ai-law-may-not-prescribe-penal-consequences-for-violations-9457780/
• https://thesecretariat.in/article/meity-s-ai-regulation-report-ambitious-but-no-concrete-solutions
• https://www.ndtv.com/lifestyle/assam-what-babydoll-archi-viral-fame-says-about-india-porn-problem-8878689
• https://www.meity.gov.in/static/uploads/2024/02/9f6e99572739a3024c9cdaec53a0a0ef.pdf

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A war in the twenty-first century does not start when the first bullet or missile is fired. It begins much earlier, covertly, and without any official announcement. Cyberspace is this new battlefield. States now use a variety of ransomware, malicious codes, and disinformation campaigns to undermine their enemies' capabilities before launching an offensive. These pre-conflict cyber operations are now the primary frontline of contemporary hybrid warfare, which is changing how conflicts are fought and conducted.

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The Birth of a Digital Battlefield

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Hybrid Warfare is a blend of conventional military force with nonmilitary tactics like economic coercion, disinformation, and cyberattacks that have evolved rapidly in recent decades. Hybrid methods of warfare are nothing new, as the scale and sophistication of cyber operations in modern conflicts are unprecedented. Russia’s actions in Ukraine demonstrated the capability of digital tools to paralyse the critical systems before its heavy munitions could be deployed for combat operations. Within days of the 2022 invasions, Ukraine faced massive Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks targeting banks, government websites, and energy infrastructures. The digital frontlines have softened the physical defences long before the conventional warfare began. 

According to the FP Analytics’ “Digital Front Lines” Project, cyber operations are no longer an auxiliary tactic but a core component of hybrid warfare, blurring the boundary between peace and war. They enable states to exert pressure, gather intelligence, and disrupt adversaries, often without being attributed or held accountable. 

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Cyber Operations: The modern Prelude to War

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The use of digital technologies for surveillance, information network disruption, or critical infrastructure destruction is known as cyber operations. They are especially useful instruments for pre-conflict manipulation because of their ambiguity and stealth. Cyberattacks, in contrast to conventional military strikes, can accomplish strategic goals while providing plausible deniability.
Coordinated cyberattacks that spread misinformation and damaged public confidence disrupted government communication systems prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. These sorts of incidents highlight the integrated nature of cyber and kinetic operations, where digital assaults often serve as the initial phases of modern wars.

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The Expanding Spectrum of Actors or Threat 

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Cyberspace has democratized warfare, which once required an army, can now be initiated by a handful of skilled programmers with access to the right tools. The cyber landscape of the present times features a wide spectrum of threat actors, which can be understood as; 

• State actors like intelligence or military agencies conduct cyber operations as part of official foreign policy. 
• Cybercriminals pursue financial gains, often overlapping with political motives. 
• Terrorist groups use cyberspace to spread propaganda for coordinated attacks. 
• Cyber mercenaries being hired by both the state and nonstate clients can blur the ethical and legal boundaries. 

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This diversity can complicate the attribution by determining that anyone who is actively working behind conducting cyberattacks can be notoriously difficult, allowing the states to hide behind “plausible deniability.” This ‘Gray Zone’ of conflict below the threshold of a declared war, above mere diplomacy, has become the preferred arena for modern power struggles. 

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Civilian Involvement and Ethical Dilemmas

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Unlike traditional warfare, where the cyber domain entangles civilians as both participants and targets. Much of the nation’s critical infrastructure, which includes energy grids, hospitals, transportation, and communication systems, is owned and operated by private entities. As a result, the civilian industries and experts are becoming central to both cyber defence and offence. 

During the Russia–Ukraine War, the volunteer hackers from around the world were many of whom are being coordinated through the app Telegram, which is termed as ‘IT Army of Ukraine’, are known for conducting digital strikes on Russian networks. Conversely, the Russia-affiliated hacker groups like Conti had vowed to retaliate against any nations that supported Ukraine. 

This civilian participation raises profound legal and moral questions, over a private company’s role in defending their networks of becoming a combatant, or the impact of retaliatory cyberattacks on civilian infrastructure war crimes. International law has yet to provide a clear answer, which can leave dangerous gaps in the governance to counter cybercrimes. 

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Susceptibility of Contemporary Society to Cyber Warfare

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Cyberwarfare can impact an entire global digital ecosystem due to its interconnectedness. Power grids, hospitals, air traffic systems, and even automation devices can be compromised. While the NotPetya ransomware, which was cloaked as ransomware, caused billions of losses and caused worldwide economic damage from shipping companies to pharmaceutical companies, the WannaCry ransomware attacks in 2017 paralysed hospitals throughout the UK's National Health Service.

When taken as a whole, these incidents have also shown that cyberattacks are no longer limited to espionage situations and can have real-world consequences comparable to those of conventional warfare. The consequences of cyberattacks could increase dramatically as our dependence on technology increases. Because these effects are profoundly psychological in nature and seek to sow fear, mistrust, and social disintegration, they are not merely technical or economic in nature.

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The Future: Permanent Cyber Frontlines

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Technological developments have made cyberspace a permanent theatre of conflict, joining the land, sea, air, and space. Countries are currently making significant investments in cyber capabilities for deterrence as well as defence. According to security experts like Eriksson and Giacomello, societies are now inherently fragile due to our increasing reliance on information technologies.

Cyber operations in this context are about strategic dominance in a globalised world, not just digital espionage. Who controls the networks and algorithms that run contemporary civilisation will determine the future of war, not just who controls the skies or the seas. As per the new reality, before the drop of the first bomb, a silent war in cyberspace will already be underway.     

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References

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• https://digitalfrontlines.io/2023/05/25/the-evolution-of-cyber-operations-in-armed-conflict/
• https://theses.ubn.ru.nl/server/api/core/bitstreams/9d74149e-fb9a-402f-aa65-a90445ad7603/content
• https://cybersecurityguide.org/resources/cyberwarfare/
• https://re.public.polimi.it/retrieve/e0c31c0b-ce6c-4599-e053-1705fe0aef77/21%20Century%20Cyber%20Warfare.pdf