Is it time to copyright your face?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 16 September 2025
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Deepfakes are videos, picture or audio clips made with artificial intelligence to look real.
Although sometimes used for fun, they can also be used to defame or discredit people. Anyone from politicians to celebrities to normal members of the public can become the subject of deepfake imagery. So how can we protect our image from being used maliciously?
In Denmark, the government is proposing a new law which would give people copyright-like protection over their face, voice, and appearance. In this edition of the Inquiry, Tanya Beckett explores how the new law would work and asks how do we strike a balance between Big Tech and AI innovation and the need to protect our identity?
Contributors:
Gitte Løvgren Larsen, Lawyer and partner, Sirius Advocator, Denmark
Dr Alina Trapova, lecturer (Assistant Prof), Intellectual property law, University College London
Ignacio Cofone, Professor of Law and Regulation of AI, University of Oxford
Mikkel Flyverbom, Professor of Communication and Digital Transformations, Copenhagen Business School
Presenter: Tanya Beckett Producer: Emma Forde Researcher: Matt Toulson Technical Producer: Richard Hannaford Production Coordinator: Tammy Snow Editor: Louise Clarke (Photo: Digital human head. Credit: imaginima/Getty Images)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.6 | Welcome to The Inquiry with me, Tanya Beckett from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:11.1 | Each week, one question, four expert witnesses, and an answer. |
| 0:18.0 | Imagine if you discovered that your face or your voice had been copied, altered and spread widely online. |
| 0:26.6 | A realistic imitation that looks and sounds just like you, but saying something you never said in a video that you never took. |
| 0:35.6 | And then it's seen by your friends, colleagues and people you may not |
| 0:40.1 | even know. Deep fakes of videos, pictures or audio clips made using artificial intelligence and to the |
| 0:49.2 | unsuspecting eye, they can look completely real. |
| 0:58.0 | The technology to make them is becoming more readily available. |
| 1:03.1 | Anyone from celebrities to politicians and ordinary people are finding that they have become targets. |
| 1:04.9 | Deepfakes can be used to spread disinformation by impersonating people doing anything, |
| 1:13.2 | from appearing in porn videos to making accusations. It raises the question, how can you protect your identity from digital |
| 1:19.9 | imitations? One country is looking to answer that question by specifically amending its laws to stop damaging |
| 1:29.3 | deepfakes in their tracks. This week on the inquiry, we're asking, is it time to copyright |
| 1:36.5 | your face? Part 1, Deepfakes Explained. My name is Gide L Lerlangen, and I am a partner at a law firm in Denmark. |
| 1:50.4 | And I specialize in IP, primarily copyrights and commercial contracts. |
| 1:56.6 | The government of Denmark has set about clamping down on harmful deep fake images and videos, |
| 2:02.6 | and it's going about it by updating its country's laws relating to copyright. |
| 2:08.6 | Copyright law protects the creators of original works, giving them exclusive rights to make copies, |
| 2:15.6 | distribute and adapt their creations. |
| 2:19.2 | But the Danish government plans to extend this legislation to individuals themselves, |
| 2:25.3 | making the copying of a person's face, voice, or even gestures, illegal if it is done without |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.