Data Points: AI-Facilitated Crime & Abuse (featuring Dr. Aiden Hirshfield)
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My friends is doctor agent harsh, field media psychologist and researcher from the media. I'm guys hosting this episode of broken cycle media, A S new series of educational episodes, call data points. These special episodes will include educational information, statistics and support on different topics that are important to our community.

Thank you so much for listening. Digital violence is an umbrella term to describe an array of harmful digital base behaviors that can lead to other forms of digit abuse or harassment. This includes, but is not limited to, the nonconsensual distribution of intimate images such as revenge porn, publishing a private information about someone online with malicious intent, also known as doxy cyberstalking, or cyberbullying impersonations such as deep fakes, and even extortion, commonly known as blackmail.

Other forms of digital abuse include glooming, the term used broadly to describe the tactics abusers deploy through the internet to sexually exploit minors as the nonprofit organza thorn puts IT grooming ing can happen quickly or over time, but at its core it's a process of exploiting trust. The shift expectations of what safe behavior is, and leveraging fear and shame to keep a child silent is difficult but important reality to face so that we can take steps to stop in. So although these forms of violence may differ in the ways they are inflicted, they often share common themes.

Rates of cyber and digital abuse are substantial. Many of our listeners ers have likely been victims of digital violence in their lifetime or know someone currently affected by IT. A study conducted by the pew research center in twenty twenty one found that two thirds of adults under age thirty have been harassed online, with eighteen to twenty nine years old experiencing the more severe forms of abuse.

p. Research has also found that nearly half of U. S. Teens age thirteen to seventeen report experiencing at least one of six cyber bowling behaviors, including offensive name calling, spreading a false rumors about them, receiving explicit images they don't ask for online stocking physical threats of violence and having explicit photos of them shared without their consent.

Studies have established that digital abuse in a relationship rarely happens in isolation. For instance, research funded by the U. S. Department of justice found that eighty four percent of cyber dating abuse victims also reported psychological dating abuse, fifty two percent reported physical dating violence, and thirty three percent reported sexual cohorn. Digital violence has grown since the pandemic and now impacts most people who exist online.

A twenty twenty one research that he conducted by thorn found that nearly half of all kids online have been approached by someone who they thought was attempting to quote the friend and manipulate them. In twenty twenty three, the national center for missing and exploited children received more than thirty million reports of child pornography, including possession, manufacturer and distribution, and over one hundred and eighty thousand reports of online enticement of children for sexual acts. This violence is also frequently gender and race space, and this proportionally affects marginalized groups.

People who identify or prison as women in L G B T cupid s are particularly vulnerable to digital abuse. This includes L G B T Q plus adults who, at a rate of roughly seven in ten, have encountered some form of the online harassment. Meanwhile, more than fifty percent of L G B T Q plus adults have been targeted as victims of more severe forms of digital abuse.

When you add A I into the mix, things get even trick here. While the term A I does come from science fiction, its current real world implications are far from fiction. In the tech industry, A I is typically referred to as generative A I.

Think of generative A I as a highly skilled parent, economic complex patterns but does not truly understand the content creates generative A I Operates by digesting large data sets and predicting what comes next IT cannot grasp complex human experiences or perform tasks IT hasn't been specifically programmed to handle general AI is not independently intelligent and like both the ability to think critically as well as be creative AI is now critically and involved in how contents spreads online and the information we use to make decisions. Think about social media algorithms or tools that create fake content or news, and use automated online box to spread disinformation and propaganda rapidly. The same technology can be missed to harass or intimidate people, possibly even perpetuate digital violence and abuse at scale.

Deep fake technology has exploded in popularity. Deep fakes can be to find as synthetic media, typically videos or images in which a person's lightness is digitally altered or entirely generated using artificial intelligence techniques, making IT appear as though they're doing or saying something they did not. This technology can convincingly mimic a person's facial expressions, voice and movements, often leading to realistic but fabricated content.

The most comprehensive study was conducted by a company called the trees in nineteen, which found that ninety six percent of deep fakes were pornographic. They also found that they are dedicated deep fake pornography websites that garner hundreds of millions of views. Combine this data with that on the pervasiveness of child pornography, and you have a recipe for digital child abuse at a massive scale.

Looking ahead, the implications of A I on digital violence are significant. As A I gets more advanced, people will likely continue to find new ways to misuse IT. For example, generative A I could lead even more convincing deep fakes, making IT harder to tell what's real.

IT also becomes easier for cyber criminals and abuse ers to disguise themselves online and cover their tracks. This begs the question of how we enforced legislation and a micro o and a micro level plus, with automated harassment becoming more common, like using online bots. This issue will only grow as A I becomes a more significant part of social media and communication platforms.

Developers and policymakers must prioritize user safety and ethical considerations. It's important that legislation is enacted and action is taken to address these evolving issues related. Most victims in the U.

S. Are critical of how social media companies address online harassment. However, there is still much debate about what should be done to combat digital violence and abuse on and the policies used to hold individuals accountable very dramatically across sites.

The U. S. Government has taken several measures to address digital abuse, violence, cyber bullying and harassment through legislation, the enforcement initiatives, educational programs and partnerships with various organizations. For instance, that children's s online privacy protection act, or copa, enact in one thousand and ninety eight, imposes specific requirements on Operators of websites or online services directed to children under thirteen years of age. There have been many bills introduced twenty twenty three that relate to online and abuse of children or two child safety.

More broadly, one of these critical pieces of legislation, the revising existing procedures on reporting via technology act or the report act, make status changes related to the reporting of crimes involving the online sexual explosion of children, increases penalties for non complaint providers and limits liability for vendors and for self reporting of a global scale. The digital services act from the european union took effect in twenty two. Its main goal is to prevent illegal and harmful activities online and the spread of disinformation.

The law also ensures users safety and holds online platforms accountable for harmful content. While some of these courts are beginning to discuss A I, the real chAllenge is creating laws. They're flexible enough to deal with these fast changing technologies and the rate at which abusive content temper lif ery.

As of now, twenty eight states have enacted A I related legislation, and eighteen states adopted A I related resolutions or enacted legislation in twenty twenty three, according to the national conference to stay legislators. Currently, there are many states with pending legislation designed to protect citizens from the harm of ei. However, there are no comprehensive federal regulations or legislation in place as of now.

Still, research funded by the U. S. Department of justice found that most victims of digital abuse don't seek help or make a report.

We also know that survivor space victim blaming and shaming due to societal rape culture, internalized racism, transformer a and homophobia. This is why few victims of digital violence abuse were bowlings speak up or seek help. This ultimately means that social media and online platforms are hardly held accountable for allowing disappears on their sites.

And technically, many social media platforms are making a profit off of that happening. What else can we do to help victims of digital violence and abuse? Here are some strategies that could help.

First, raising your and your families education and awareness about digital buse and the misuse of ai will empower you to recognize and address these issues. Consider some digital literary programs that teach everyone, not just children, how to critically navigate digital technologies. Also consider petitioning tech companies to design safer platforms such as Better reporting systems, AI content, moderation to contribute faster and increased user friendly privacy settings.

Finally, consider reporting digital violence and abuse or cyberbullying on social media platforms or websites to the company is that owe them, and to the national center for missing and exploited children, as well as reporting child sexual abuse material and other cybercrime directly to the FBI using the internet crime complaints center or I C three website. You can also get involved in legislation by contacting your legislature to ask what they are doing. You can also attend hearings and testify for bills where the local news outlets to cover the issue.

I wanna mention again that the internet, like A I, is a tool. They can be wild as a weapon or an incredibly powerful ally in the war against digital abuse when we use the internet to connect victims, share resources and hold abuse ers accountable, we can combat digital violence at scale, too. Just as advancements in deep fakes come out, so do new technologies aimed at identifying and counteracting them.

Ultimately, the more we talk about digital violence and abuse, the less able IT is to Operate in a protected vacuum. If you believe you are a loved one, has been a victim of digital violence, or if you're looking for more resources or support regarding digital abuse, you may find the following organizations helpful. A national domestic violence hotline has resources for victims and their allies, including a three, twenty four, seven hot light live chat and texting support.

They also have informative research on digital abuse and harassment as well guides on internet safety. The nonprofit right to be has extensive resources on its website, including educational training and a self care guide for the those who experience online harassment. The non profit organza thorn has resources for parents.

Any community for Young individuals define the resources necessary to navigate sexual exploitation and risky encounters in the digital era. The national centre for missing and exploited children to website has many resources for both adults and children, including a service called ticket down, which helps people remove online nude, partial nude or sexually explicit photos and videos taken from before they are eighteen. For more information about the non profit organizations mentioned prior, please visit the episode notes for a more comprehensive list of organizations that are working to out eradicate ate digital violence or abuse, please visit something was wrong 到 com ford flash resources。

Many of the amazing groups listed on the website are only able to exist because of the community's help and support from people like you. If you would like to find out more information about volunteer opportunities, please feel free to visit the resources pages as well and reach out directly to the organization of your choice. My name is doctor aid in hershfield.

My pronouns are he, him, or they them. And you can find me on instagram, at doctor that eat in hershfield and my podcast media sight on spotify or apple. You can also follow or connect with me on linked in. Thank you so much for listening and learning with us.

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