The era of fake news feels brand-new.
But a new book, “A History of Fake Things on the Internet,” takes a deeper look into the origins of online deception.
“There’s this conventional narrative about fake news and manipulated imagery on the internet. But when I started to actually research this and looking into the history, it was very apparent to me that these are very long-standing issues,” said author Walter Scheirer, the Dennis O. Doughty Collegiate Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Notre Dame.
The book takes readers on a journey that begins long before the internet existed, focusing on photo manipulation before diving into digital fakery of the ’80s and ’90s through today. Scheirer recognizes that the big fear people often have is that the perfect fake image or video could be created to fool the world into believing something wrong — he believes that’s unlikely.
“What I have found, which is more interesting and more concerning, is that obviously fake content is getting way more traction on the internet,” Scheirer said. “Things like memes often have a message that’s funny, right? But the message can still be dangerous.”
As an expert in image forensics, machine learning and AI, Scheirer conducts research at Notre Dame that focuses on combatting the rise of coordinated social media campaigns to incite violence, sow discord and threaten the integrity of democratic elections.
Often, these campaigns feature manipulated images...
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