New York State Bar Association Delves Into Legal Challenges Created by Deepfakes and False Digital Content

An upcoming New York State Bar Association program will examine the challenges deepfakes, or artificial digital images, present to the legal profession. While deepfakes may look realistic, they can be used to create fake images and videos of celebrities, politicians, or even ordinary people doing and saying things that they did not actually say or do.

“Deepfakes are spreading lies on social media as we speak,” said Domenick Napoletano, president of the New York State Bar Association. “Attorneys will need to learn how to protect their clients from falsified social media posts. As legal professionals, it is our responsibility to protect the truth – both inside and outside of the courtroom.”

The webinar, “Seeing is Believing? The Legal Challenges of Deepfakes,” will take place on Friday, Feb. 28, from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Journalists are invited to attend but must contact Rebecca Melnitsky at rmelnitsky@nysba.org or Susan DeSantis at sdesantis@nysba.org.

The program will explore what legal questions deepfakes raise, how deepfakes undermine public trust, and what judges and attorneys can do to protect the authenticity and admissibility of digital evidence.

The speakers will be:

• Justice Tanya R. Kennedy, associate justice of the Appellate Division, First Department, New York State Supreme Court and chair of the New York State Bar Association’s Judicial Section.
• Daniel Capra, Philip Reed professor of law at Fordham Law School in New York City.
• Maura Grossman, computer science research professor at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.
• Jerry Bui, CEO of Right Forensics in Plano, Texas.

The course is free for New York State Bar Association members, as one of the many benefits of the association’s new, all-inclusive membership package.

Attendees will receive one Cybersecurity, Privacy and Data Protection Continuing Legal Education credit. The program is sponsored by the association’s Judicial Section and its Committee on Technology and the Legal Profession.