21st Century-Style Truth Decay: Deep Fakes and the Challenge for Privacy, Free Expression, and National Security

Robert Chesney and Danielle Keats Citron

On February 1, 2019, the Maryland Law Review hosted a spectacular symposium entitled Truth Decay: Deep Fakes and the Implications for Privacy, National Security, and Democracy. The Law Review brought together scholars and advocates to discuss the deep-fake phenomenon and the looming challenges to privacy, civil liberties, national security, and civic trust. Before we begin our foreword to the symposium papers, we wanted to thank Executive Symposium Editor Meredith Storm, Editor-in-Chief Alexandra Botsaris, and Managing Editor Caroline Covington for their leadership, hard work, and enthusiasm.

Last spring, after telling them about our work on the topic, Meredith, Alexandra, and Caroline decided to dedicate the symposium to the deep-fake phenomenon. Of all of the cyber law issues grabbing headlines, from the loss of trust in social media companies to the daily drum beat of data breaches, they chose this topic. As the news from the weeks following the symposium showed, these women had foresight. We are grateful to the staff of the Law Review, especially Meredith, Alexandra, and Caroline, for having the vision, smarts, and devotion to bring together scholars with an array of perspectives to discuss the privacy, free expression, intellectual property, and national security challenges raised by the emergence of deep-fake technologies.