Seeing the Round Corners

HEADS UP, the new day for Seeing the Round Corners “GOING LIVE” is Tuesday each week.

January 28, 2020

PART XXIV – FAKE NEWS AND THE SYNTHETIC MEDIA

Today’s column on Sanctions maybe of special interest to readers in view of recent sanctions imposed on various countries – China and Iran.

America’s economic power has grown to the point of giving it considerable leverage over foreign governments, entities and individuals. Recent pronouncements in the ongoing impeachment proceedings are determined to say otherwise, despite economic indicators such as the low unemployment figure and the high stock market.

The International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) “establishes a framework for the executive branch to issue economic sanctions backed by criminal penalties.” The president is not free to just go unrestrained with imposing sanctions under IEEPA.

The word “international” may give a hint as IEEPA requires that the president must first issue a public proclamation of a national emergency, relating to an “unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in whole or substantial part outside of the United States.”

Where the problem would arise in deploying IEEPA sanctions as an overt response to foreign use of deep fakes, a relevant existing national-emergency proclamation would have to be issued by the president which would be quite near an impossibility considering proof alone and of itself.

At least two dozen active states of national emergency were in place as of the summer of 2018, mostly with “little possible relevance as Chesney and Citron describe it, with a deep-fake scenario conceivably arising in ways that “both implicate particular actors or regions, and involve actors not already subject to sanctions.”

The significant (and particularly) important question is “whether any of these existing authorities would apply to a foreign entity employing deep fakes to impact American elections.” Yes, but a very complicated matter.

Something most readers probably never heard about was an executive order issued by former President Obama in April of 2015 – Executive Order 13964. A national emergency was proclaimed with respect to a “malicious cyber-enabled activity originating from, or directed by persons located...outside the United States.”

After the 2016 election Obama amended the order, expanding the order to forbid foreign entities from using, “cyber-enabled” means to “tamper[] with, alter[], or caus[e] a misappropriation of information with the purpose or effect of interfering with or undermining election processes or institution...”

Readers should take especial note: THE FOLLOWING BULLETED PARAGRAPHS ARE SPECULATIVE FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE FENCE AND READERS SHOULD BE COMPLETELY AWARE OF SUCH. NO PROOF HAS BEEN SHOWN TO THE PUBLIC BY EITHER REPUBLICANS OR DEMOCRATS:

At the time, its purpose was to allow for IEEPA sanctions against Russian entities that interfered in the 2016 elections through means that included the DNC hack. President Obama immediately used the (his) authority to sanction Russia’s FSB, GRU and various other individuals and entities.
Chesney and Citron added fuel to the speculative aspect by asking, “Could same be done with respect to a foreign entity that engaged in no hacking and instead focused entirely on using social media platforms to propagate false information in ways to impact American politics?”
President Trump then jumped on board and issued sanctions against Russia’s Internet Research Agency (IRA), using the example set by former President Obama.
Again, without proof shown to the American public, President Trump’s claim was that the Russian IRA had engaged in extensive efforts to propagate false information into the American political debate. The Trump administration’s sanction of the matter under color of the cyber-executive order, as Chesney and Citron point out, seemed an endorsement of the proposition that “politically targeted information operations only were enough, even without hacking, to come within the scope of IEEPA framework.” The precedent was confused when the Treasury Department explained (or perhaps justified is a better word – writer’s opinion), the inclusion of the IRA and reference to “misappropriation of information” and illegal use of stolen personally identifiable information.

Chesney and Citron had the following recommendation which they believe would eliminate any doubt about the immediate availability of IEEPA-based sanctions (of course, such would include attempts to employ deep fakes in aid of such efforts):

We recommend promulgation of a new national emergency specifically tailored to attempts by foreign entities to inject false information into America’s political dialogue, without any need to show that such efforts at some point happened to involve hacking or any other “cyber-enabled” means.

Next week, Market Solutions as we continue Deep Fakes and Deep Fake Videos.

The reader's comments or questions are always welcome. E-mail me at doris@dorisbeaver.com.