Texas firm allegedly behind fake Biden robocall that told people not to vote

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Texas firm allegedly behind fake Biden robocall that told people not to vote

Tech and telecom firms helped New Hampshire AG trace call to "Life Corporation."

arstechnica.com

Texas firm allegedly behind fake Biden robocall that told people not to vote​

Tech and telecom firms helped New Hampshire AG trace call to "Life Corporation."​

JON BRODKIN - 2/7/2024, 4:04 PM

Enlarge / US President Joe Biden speaks on the phone in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 1, 2023.
Getty Images | Brendan Smialowski

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An anti-voting robocall that used an artificially generated clone of President Biden's voice has been traced to a Texas company called Life Corporation "and an individual named Walter Monk," according to an announcement by New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella yesterday.

The AG office's Election Law Unit issued a cease-and-desist order to Life Corporation for violating a New Hampshire law that prohibits deterring people from voting "based on fraudulent, deceptive, misleading, or spurious grounds or information," the announcement said.

As previously reported, the fake Biden robocall was placed before the New Hampshire Presidential Primary Election on January 23. The AG's office said it is investigating "whether Life Corporation worked with or at the direction of any other persons or entities."

"What a bunch of malarkey," the fake Biden voice said. "You know the value of voting Democratic when our votes count. It's important that you save your vote for the November election. We'll need your help in electing Democrats up and down the ticket. Voting this Tuesday only enables the Republicans in their quest to elect Donald Trump again. Your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday."

The artificial Biden voice seems to have been created using a text-to-speech engine offered by ElevenLabs, which reportedly responded to the news by suspending the account of the user who created the deepfake.

The robocalls "illegally spoofed their caller ID information to appear to come from a number belonging to a former New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair," the AG's office said. Formella, a Republican, said that "AI-generated recordings used to deceive voters have the potential to have devastating effects on the democratic election process."

Tech firms helped investigation​

Formella's announcement said that YouMail and Nomorobo helped identify the robocalls and that the calls were traced to Life Corporation and Walter Monk with the help of the Industry Traceback Group run by the telecom industry. Nomorobo estimated the number of calls to be between 5,000 and 25,000.

"The tracebacks further identified the originating voice service provider for many of these calls to be Texas-based Lingo Telecom. After Lingo Telecom was informed that these calls were being investigated, Lingo Telecom suspended services to Life Corporation," the AG's office said.

The Election Law Unit issued document preservation notices and subpoenas for records to Life Corporation, Lingo Telecom, and other entities "that may possess records relevant to the Attorney General’s ongoing investigation," the announcement said.

Media outlets haven't had much luck in trying to get a comment from Monk. "At his Arlington office, the door was locked when NBC 5 knocked," an NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth article said. "A man inside peeked around the corner to see who was ringing the doorbell but did not answer the door."

The New York Times reports that "a subsidiary of Life Corporation called Voice Broadcasting Corp., which identifies Mr. Monk as its founder on its website, has received numerous payments from the Republican Party’s state committee in Delaware, most recently in 2022, as well as payments from congressional candidates in both parties."

A different company, also called Life Corporation, posted a message on its home page that said, "We are a medical device manufacturer located in Florida and are not affiliated with the Texas company named in current news stories."

FCC warns carrier​

The Federal Communications Commission said yesterday that it is taking action against Lingo Telecom. The FCC said it sent a letter demanding that Lingo "immediately stop supporting unlawful robocall traffic on its networks," and a K4 Order that "strongly encourages other providers to refrain from carrying suspicious traffic from Lingo."

"The FCC may proceed to require other network providers affiliated with Lingo to block its traffic should the company continue this behavior," the agency said.

The FCC is separately planning a vote to declare that the use of AI-generated voices in robocalls is illegal under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

 

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[Wild self]

They should get jail time, as well as many posters on here....

 

[3rdWorld]

Impersonating the President should be a serious criminal offense.
Republican jews were responsible last time for robocalls encouraging Black people to not vote.

The GOP cannot engage in a free and fair election, there has to be voter suppression, gerrymandering and disenfranchisement of voters.

 

[ScoopNScore]

THIS. Treat them as severe as January 6 cacs

 

[Vandelay]

If they're not going validate individual AI creators and the content they create, there needs to be stiff penalties for people discovered impersonating or misleading people with AI. Not no slap on the wrist shyt. Should be similar to credit card fraud.

 

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New Orleans magician says he made AI Biden robocall for aide to challenger

Paul David Carpenter says he was paid by consultant for Democrat Dean Phillips to mimic Biden’s voice during New Hampshire primary

www.theguardian.com

View image in fullscreen

Joe Biden’s voice was imitated by AI in a call to New Hampshire voters discouraging them from voting in the state’s Democratic primary. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

US elections 2024

New Orleans magician says he made AI Biden robocall for aide to challenger​

Paul David Carpenter says he was paid by consultant for Democrat Dean Phillips to mimic Biden’s voice in New Hampshire primary

Ramon Antonio Vargas in New Orleans

Fri 23 Feb 2024 09.33 EST

A magician in New Orleans says he was the person who used artificial intelligence to create an audio recording of Joe Biden used in an infamous robocall and that he was paid by a consultant for the president’s primary challenger, Dean Phillips.

NBC News reported Paul David Carpenter, who holds several world records and also works as a hypnotist, provided it with text messages, call logs and payment documentation to back up his claims.

Carpenter claimed he was hired by Steve Kramer, a consultant for Phillips’s campaign, to use AI to mimic Biden’s voice discouraging people from voting in New Hampshire’s 23 January primary.

“I created the audio used in the robocall [but] I did not distribute it,” Carpenter reportedly told NBC. “I was in a situation where someone offered me some money to do something and I did it.

“There was no malicious intent. I didn’t know how it was going to be distributed.”

The audio recording is currently under investigation by law enforcement officials, and prompted the US government to outlaw robocalls using AI-generated voices.

Carpenter told NBC it was “so scary” how easy it was for him to produce the fake audio, saying it took less than 20 minutes and cost him $1. In return, he was paid $150, as documented in Venmo payments from Kramer and his father, Bruce Kramer, that Carpenter reportedly supplied to NBC.

He also shared what he described as the original robocall audio file, which he manufactured with software from ElevenLabs, an AI firm that touts its ability to create a voice clone from existing speech samples.

NBC said Kramer, a veteran political operative, did not comment on Carpenter’s version of events and would soon publish an opinion piece that would “explain all”.

In a statement, Phillips’ campaign said it was “disgusted to learn that Mr Kramer is allegedly behind this call”.

“If it is true that Mr Kramer had any involvement in the creation of deepfake robocalls, he did so of his own volition, which had nothing to do with our campaign,” said the campaign’s press secretary, Katie Dolan.

“The fundamental notion of our campaign is the importance of competition, choice and democracy,” she added. “If the allegations are true, we absolutely denounce his actions.”

Federal Election Commission records show that in December and January, the Phillips campaign paid nearly $260,000 to Kramer, who once worked on the 2020 presidential campaign for Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.

NBC said it found no evidence to suggest the Minnesota congressman’s campaign had instructed Kramer to produce the audio or disseminate the robocall.

Carpenter describes himself as a “digital nomad artist”, and perhaps his biggest previous claim to fame was setting the world records for fastest straitjacket escape and most fork bends in under a minute.

“The only thing missing from the political circus is a magician, and here I am,” Carpenter joked.

Carpenter – who didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from the Guardian – has no fixed address but lists himself as a resident of New Orleans. Videos and images online show him in the streets of the city’s famed French Quarter neighborhood.

New Hampshire authorities by 6 February issued cease-and-desist orders and subpoenas to two Texas companies believed to be linked to the robocall – Life Corporation, which investigators alleged was the robocall’s source, and Lingo Telecom, which they said transmitted it.

After news of the robocall became known, the Federal Communications Commission ruled unanimously to either fine companies using AI voices in their calls or block any service providers that carry them.

Phillips’ campaign has done little to affect Biden’s status as the presumptive Democratic nominee for November’s presidential election. On Thursday, the congressman floated the idea of running for the White House on a “unity ticket” with Nikki Haley, who was on track to lose the Republican primary to Biden’s presidential predecessor Donald Trump.

Edward Helmore contributed reporting

 

[F*ckthemkids]

well well well

 

[ORDER_66]

and no one went to jail...