Manipulated photos of naked girls at school: Can the law confront Artificial Intelligence?

There is a proven fact. In recent days, different mothers of teenage girls from Almendralejo (Extremadura) have filed complaints with the Police for the manipulation and dissemination of false images of their daughters in which they are presented naked. These are hyper-realistic creations made with artificial intelligence applications known as deepfakes, videos or static images (it can also be sound) where the original face is replaced by that of any other person. According to data from the municipal Police, images of naked students modified by artificial intelligence have been disseminated in at least four of the five secondary schools in the town. The case is already under investigation. Is this action a crime? Are there charges attributable to the authors or distributors of this manipulation?

The National Police has identified several minors as alleged perpetrators of the montages and has taken statements from seven possible victims, according to the Government delegate in Extremadura, Francisco Mendoza, who explained that as soon as the identity of the minors became known It has been transferred to the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office to “decide what is appropriate.” The senior prosecutor of Extremadura, Francisco Javier Montero, during his speech at the presentation of the activity report of the Public Ministry, has considered that this identity theft “attempts, through photographic manipulation, privacy and honor,” reports EFE.

Manuel Cancio, professor of Criminal Law at the Autonomous University of Madrid, warns that the Penal Code does not classify or contemplate this type of act in which artificial intelligence is used. When dealing with photographs, Cancio alludes to a possible use of article 197.1, which punishes anyone who, “in order to discover the secrets or violate the privacy of another, without their consent, seizes their papers, letters, email messages or any other other documents or personal effects, intercept their telecommunications or use technical devices for listening, transmission, recording or reproduction of sound or image.” “The problem is that in this case of the Extremaduran teenagers, the face in the photographs is real, but the nude is not, it has been produced by artificial intelligence, so the legal fit of this behavior is very difficult,” he considers. Likewise, 197.2 and 197.3 would enter, which refer to those who access that material without consent or disseminate it.

Cancio recalls that in September 2022 the European Commission already warned of this problem and published a proposal for a directive on the adaptation of non-contractual civil liability rules to artificial intelligence, to introduce new specific rules on damages caused by AI. “The Spanish legislator, as usual, is asleep and the Penal Code has not been modified to introduce these technological changes that are increasingly part of everyday life,” he laments. “It could be resorted to the mixed bag of a crime of libel or against moral integrity, which is where the facts fall that we do not know where to include.” Regarding the possibility of going through civil means, Cancio points out that “today, it could already give rise to compensation for interference in the privacy and honor of minors.”

The lawyer expert in digital law Borja Adsuara believes that these facts could be included in 197.1, since it refers to the use of “technical devices for image reproduction”, which could include artificial intelligence. “The worst thing about this issue is the lack of perception that a crime is being committed, first because it is very easy to commit it with a simple AI application for the mobile phone, and second because the practice of sexting (induction to send of pornographic material through information technologies) and many people are not clear about the limit of consent.”

The lawyer, expert in technological law and author of Datanomics, Paloma Llaneza, rules out the facts as possession and distribution of child pornography, contemplated in article 189, 189.1 and 189.2 of the Penal Code. “What we are trying to protect is minors who are exploited to obtain child pornography. But there has been no abuse of any kind here. It has already been discussed in the past about retouching with Photoshop or Manga, where minors appear. But these facts are not covered by this crime of child pornography.” Furthermore, she points out that since the victims have already stated that they are not their real bodies, it could no longer be taken that way. “They have not taken a photo of them in privacy, images have been created automatically, so 197.1 could not be applied either,” she adds.

Unlike any other branch of law, Llaneza indicates, where interpretations of the law can be adapted to the passage of time, criminal law does not allow “analogical interpretation.” “We cannot include aspects that are not explicitly stated in the Penal Code.” Furthermore, the victims have not had nude photos stolen, nor have they been coerced via chat to obtain them.” Llaneza remembers how the case of the former socialist councilor of Los Yébenes (Toledo) Olvido Hormigos, who sent an intimate video to a person with whom she had a relationship and who spread it without her consent, already forced the Penal Code to be modified so that it would be a crime. forwarding material without consent. “In the case of the girls from Extremadura, of course there is an attack on their privacy, but the body is not theirs.”

In Llaneza’s opinion, in this case the civil route is not an option either because when filing a lawsuit it is necessary to identify the perpetrator of the events, which in this scenario is impossible until a police investigation is carried out.

Protocol against bullying

Pending the police investigation, the affected families have assured EL PAÍS that some of the minors found out in educational centers that images of their naked bodies were circulating on their classmates’ cell phones. When a child reports that he is having a bad time or the center has suspicions, he is obliged to activate the protocol against bullying, defined by the education departments of the different autonomies. For it to be considered harassment, three circumstances must exist: the intention to cause harm (physical, verbal or psychological), the repetition over time of the harmful behaviors, and an imbalance of power between the parties. This imbalance can be numerical, for example, five against one; physical, someone very big against someone smaller; or social, isolating that person from the rest, or age.

The Extremadura Department of Education assures this newspaper that, at the moment, they are not aware that any center has activated the protocol. Nor has there been any order to do so from the Educational Inspection of the autonomy.

Sources from the Ministry of Education point out that “we are just in talks with the member states and the European Commission to approve some recommendations regarding digitalization in education.” Among them, European countries are encouraged to reinforce the presence of digital competence among students and teachers, with the aim of achieving “safe, sustainable, responsible and healthy use” of technologies. The file is under review and will be debated at the EU Council of Education Ministers next November in Brussels.

Subscribe to continue reading

Read without limits

#Manipulated #photos #naked #girls #school #law #confront #Artificial #Intelligence