"Weaponized Video: A New Way To Manipulate The Masses?"

Experts are sounding the alarm on the "terrifying" potential of digitally-altered audio/video capabilities.

That's right, Christian, recent advances in audio/video technology can make anyone appear to say anything by "stamping" one face onto another. www.cbsnews.com/news/experts-warn-of-digitally-altered-video-becoming-weaponized/

For instance: "Imagine a world leader appearing in a video to give a speech that never actually occurred. Computer-generated imagery has made this more possible than ever," said Tony Dokoupil on CBS This Morning.

And video experts as well as lawmakers, are freaking out, fearing it could sow chaos or even war.

"The idea that someone could put another person's face on an individual's body?" said Virginia Senator Mark Warner. "That would be like a home run for anyone who wants to interfere in a political process."

Sen. Warner believes manipulated video and doctored audio could be a game-changer in global politics by 2020, or even as early as later this year.

While this technology has some legitimate purposes, Hany Farid, who  runs a lab at Dartmouth College, is trying to expose it.

"We are absolutely not ready for this," he said, in regards to the new video face "stamp" and the Adobe program (reported on last year) that can create new audio from written text, and actually put new words in some one's mouth.

"Right out of the gate, that's terrifying," Farid said. "Now I can create the President of the United States saying just about anything.

"I think the nightmare situation is a fake video of a politician saying, 'I have launched nuclear weapons against a country.' The other country reacts within minutes, seconds, and we have a global nuclear war," said Farid.

And though his lab is developing tools to identify fakes, Farid believes this is only the beginning.

Yikes.

A wise man once said: "We have a 'fake news' phenomenon that is not going away. And so add to that fake images, fake audio, fake video and you have an explosion of what I would call an information war." -- Hany Farid

"The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder, and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them..." 2 Thessalonians 2: 9-10

News:

• Reuters: Russia says U.S. plans to strike Damascus, pledges military response; claims inside intel
• Gateway Pundit: Radical Atheist Set To Become Navy "Chaplain"
• The Jerusalem Post: U.S. intelligence warns of "real potential" of war in Near East region between Israel and Iran.