Deep-fake dubs can modify or change an 

actor’s original film and TV performances.

A new start-up is helping TV shows and films effortlessly reach new markets around the world. Customers feed the company’s software with video from a film or TV show along with dubbed dialogue recorded by humans. Machine learning models then create new lip movements that match the translated speech and pastes them onto the actor’s head. The results aren’t 100% flawless (yet), but they are pretty good. What makes this technology particularly interesting is its potential to scale. These deep-fake dubs offer tremendous value for money: they’re cheap and quick to create, especially when compared to the cost of full remakes. And, with the advent of global streaming platforms like Netflix, Disney Plus, and Amazon Prime Video, it’s easier than ever for such legitimate and illegitimate dubbs to reach international markets. 

The Wall Street Journal recently highlighted, reported that the demand for streaming services in the US is saturated + companies are looking abroad for future growth. In the first quarter of 2021, for example, 89 percent of new Netflix users came from outside the US and Canada. To create shows with domestic and international viewer appeal you can now roll out versions with local V/O that seem more authentic because the deep-fake dubs preserve, to some degree, the performance of the original actors. The dubs are more sensitive to the facial expressions of the performers, retaining their emotion and line delivery.

My concerns are these. 

Like all other technology that makes something faster or cheaper to make, or replicate, this deep-fake dub technology will quickly get better and cheaper. 

The machine learning aspect scares me because the goal of that learning is to make the deep-fake invisible (to the human eye and brain).  

Once that happens this technology will be embraced and used by unscrupulous people to coerce, confuse and steal from groups and individuals. What is now being done with robo-calls will be done on video platforms like zoom™.

 Almost every day I get lists like these. If I collected them all and tried to act on them I don’t think I’d get very far with my day. They remind me of my mother when I was a kid – telling me to wear clean underwear, an undershirt, appropriate cloths, sit up straight, chew my food twenty times, go straight to school, or bed, etc.

Her “lists” were part of her early childhood training routine, not a replacement for it.

The lists I use today are SHORT and rank what projects I need to do, not how to do them. That’s the purview of training which I see less and less of today because everyone wants everything fast + cheap. So there's no time or financial margin left for training.

I wish business leaders would wake up, return to basics and deep-six all these stupid lists.

They are not a substitute for, and a VERY poor supplement to common sense and genuine on-the-job training.

I’m very good at what I do because people took the time to train me, years of practice and my commitment to making the good better and the better best.

Not because I've got a bunch of (how to do) lists.

Source: REUTERS | MAY 21ST, 2021

Canada's Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien, is among those who've voiced concern that Canada's privacy laws could leave consumer and business data vulnerable. Canada’s existing privacy laws leave consumers and businesses exposed to misuses of data, mainly due to outdated rules and lack of enforcement ability for regulators, privacy commissioners and experts say, and a proposed new bill does not necessarily solve these issues.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government introduced Bill C-11 in November 2020, intended to modernize the oversight of data protection, but critics say it falls short of this goal. The bill has several hoops to pass through before it becomes law.

Canada’s data privacy laws saw a significant update roughly 20 years ago.

Changing technology — such as facial recognition and increased use of artificial intelligence – combined with a lack of enforcement power have “absolutely” left Canadians unprotected from data leaks and misuse, according to Jill Clayton, Alberta’s privacy commissioner.

The dearth of action means that Canada is “seriously starting to fall behind” jurisdictions like Europe, which implemented a landmark set of privacy laws in 2018, Clayton said.

In the United Kingdom, for instance, regulators have more enforcement powers, such as carrying out FBI-style raids, while Canadian regulators are often unable to deliver more than a slap on the wrist.

The lack of enforcement power was highlighted earlier this year, when Daniel Therrien, current federal privacy commissioner, issued a joint report with provincial counterparts into U.S. facial recognition Clearview AI’s actions in Canada.

The commissioners condemned the company’s practice of using Canadians’ photos posted to social media to build a database, but could not force the company to return or delete the data.

Similarly, when sensitive information of 15 million Canadians was leaked at LifeLabs, Canada’s largest provider of specialty medical laboratory testing, commissioners said they were limited in their ability to hand out appropriate punishment.

One outcome of Canada’s outdated privacy law is that industries that handle a lot of data, such as banks, have had to evolve ahead of the legislation due to the increasing gap between modern technologies and existing laws, said Robert Colangelo, senior vice president of the global financial institutions group at DBRS Morningstar.

To strengthen Bill C-11, Therrien’s office submitted 60 recommendations to the government, including a shift in focus towards privacy rights of individuals and away from prioritizing commercial interests.

A spokesman for Innovation, Science and Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said the bill provides a clear framework of rules that allow “Canadian businesses to innovate while protecting Canadians’ privacy,” and its passage is “a top priority.”

The bill also proposes companies that fail to protect the personal information of Canadians could be fined up to 5% of global revenue. Therrien said in a recent statement said that the penalty is “unjustifiably narrow and protracted.”

David Fraser, a lawyer at McInnes Cooper who advises Fortune-100 companies on technology and privacy laws, acknowledges that Bill C-11 is a compromise, but is concerned the bill would make the privacy commissioner “judge, jury and executioner.”

December 25, 1930 - June 1, 2021

After an extraordinary 90 years, Noel passed peacefully with his beloved wife and their children by his side. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Nancy, children Lee, Dana and Leslie as well as his brother and sister, Harland and Kathleen. Noel's career in advertising spanned three decades. His extensive experience covered integral areas of the industry. Trained initially in the creative field, he joined Baker Lovick in the '50s. He climbed the corporate ladder until he moved into account services and was eventually made Senior Vice President - think of the HBO series "Mad Men." 

Noel was an avid tennis and squash player and a member of the Badminton & Racquet Club in Toronto and Cedar Springs in Burlington. Upon his retirement, he returned to his love of painting. He spent time recreating treasured scenes from his travels around the world with Nancy, family portraits and, of course, the family dogs. Expanding on his creativity, Noel took up wood carving as well; creating each family member their own personalized paddle for the cottage. Noel loved spending time at the cottage with family and friends over the years. From cross-country skiing gatherings to birthday parties to gardening or just relaxing with a glass of red, the cottage was precious to him. It was at the cottage where Noel passed along his love of art and nature to his grandchildren. If you asked 100 people who Noel was, you would get 100 different answers. Some saw him as a model and an athlete, while others saw a guide and a friend, and many would call him a hero and a storyteller. Noel was all of these things and more. What is true in descriptions of Noel is the strength of character that he demonstrated in all aspects of his life and all the people who would agree their lives were better for knowing and loving him. When time permits, we will gather to celebrate Noel while listening to his favourite jazz musician, Duke Ellington. The care and kindness given to Noel by Simone, Kellie, his nurses, and Wemi and the other PSWs, has been truly appreciated. 

A heartfelt thank you from the family. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Canadian Cancer Society. "As long as we remember a person, they're not really gone. Their thoughts, their feelings, their memories, they become a part of us."

On 4.27.2021REUTERS News Agency reported that “Apple recently began rolling out an update of its iOS operating system with new privacy controls designed to limit digital advertisers from tracking iPhone users. For Apple’s more than 1 billion iPhone users, the change will mean a new pop-up notification in some apps seeking their permission to collect data that Apple believes could be used to track their browsing habits across third-party apps and websites.

Personally I’m delighted to hear that these new rules will bring a seismic change to the nearly $100 billion mobile advertising market if most iPhone users decline to allow data collection - although the exact impact remains unclear at this time. How Android’s OS is upgraded is another unknown – although my bet is that ABC will not follow suit as a similar privacy update would make a dent in its bottom line. Some analysts believe that fewer than one in three users are likely to say “yes” to an app’s pop-up like this: “XYZ would like permission to track you across apps and websites owned by other companies. [ Yes | No ]” 

My iPhone has a “tracking” menu in the privacy settings where I can opt-out of tracking from any or all apps on my phone. 

The relatively FREE Ride is finally over!

Both advertisers and app developers who sell ad inventory claim that the opt-out option will make advertising less effective. The ad industry has gathered data about people’s web browsing behavior in order to serve up ads since 2008.

Before that multi-media audience projections based on media surveys was the foundation on which an affective advertising campaign was built. The high cost of media research limited the number of Canadian companies that utilized media research. Smaller, insightful companies created VERY effective advertising campaigns by carefully testing the response to their creative and media options over time – effectively doing for themselves (at a price) what Google and social media claimed to do (better) for them – for free.      

The fear that “a shrinking pool of user data could lead to lower sales for brands” is unfounded and will prove to be false. While the “brand” will lose “price shoppers”, if the brand’s foundation is build on “price” – it’s not a brand anyway. So nothing’s lost. While I agree that there will be “Lower ad revenue for mobile apps and publishers.” and  that “Apple’s move has deepened a rift with Facebook Inc, which has said the change will hurt small businesses because it will impede their ability to cost-effectively find local customers to target with advertisements.”, this is bullshit and it shouldn’t worry you. This is what capitalism is all about. No one cried when online search and social advertising shut down classified advertising in millions of print publications around the world. I’ll be damned if I’m going to shed a tear for app developers or facebook. 

I’m delighted that Apple is giving customers more control over their data. I like that Apple has introduced privacy “nutrition labels” to its App Store to show users what data an app collect.

I’m fine with first party data in-app ads.

I’m delighted that apps that want to send me ads based on data from third-party websites will need to seek permission.