The line you do not cross

Most of this module has been about capability and judgement. This lesson is about a small number of things that are simply not acceptable, and it is short because the list is short.

Decide these now. The moment you need the answer is the worst moment to work it out.

The likeness test

Before publishing anything containing a real, identifiable person:

Would they recognise themselves — and did they agree to this specific use?

Both halves. Recognisable and consenting. If either fails, it does not go out.

This covers more than faces. A voice (L6), a distinctive setting, a name plus a plausible image, an identifiable body without a face. Recognition is what matters, not which feature carried it.

Not grey areas

Four categories with no defensible version. Not edge cases, not context dependent.

Sexual imagery of a real person without their consent. This is the most common serious harm caused by these tools, it overwhelmingly targets women, and it is now a criminal offence in a growing number of jurisdictions. There is no version of this that is acceptable, including “it was private” and “it was obviously fake”.

Any sexual content involving a minor, synthetic or otherwise, without exception. Generated material is illegal essentially everywhere, and the fact that no child was photographed does not make it a lesser thing.

Fabricated evidence. Anything intended to be believed as a record of an event that did not occur — for a claim, a case, a complaint, a dispute.

Impersonation for deception. Making someone appear to say or do something, to obtain money, votes, access or belief.

Note that the last two are covered by law that predates all of this. Fraud is fraud regardless of the tool.

The genuinely arguable middle

Some things really are contested, and pretending otherwise is not useful.

Satire of public figures has a long protected history, and synthetic media complicates it. A cartoon is unmistakably commentary. A photorealistic video of a politician saying something they never said is not — even labelled, because labels do not survive the third repost.

The workable distinction is realism, not target. Commentary that is obviously commentary is one thing. A realistic fabrication is another, whoever it depicts.

Recreating the dead was covered in L6 and the same reasoning holds: they cannot consent, so ask who is being served.

Historical reconstruction for education can be valuable and needs conspicuous labelling — it produces exactly the material that circulates later stripped of context.

Your own rule, written down

Decide, now, in advance:

Will you generate images of real people at all?
Will you use anyone’s voice, and under what consent?
What will you always label, regardless of whether anyone requires it?
What will you refuse, even when asked by someone who can make things difficult for you?

That last one is why this gets written down beforehand. The request will not arrive labelled as a serious question. It will arrive as a small favour, with a deadline, from someone reasonable.

Try it now (6 minutes)

Write your four answers. Four lines is enough.

Then imagine being asked to cross one of them by someone you would rather not refuse. If your rule survives that, it is a rule. If it does not, make it narrower now, while nothing is at stake.

Check your understanding

1. The likeness test asks: Whether the image is photorealistic Whether they would recognise themselves, and agreed to this specific use Whether the person is a public figure

2. Which is NOT a grey area? Historical reconstruction for teaching Sexual imagery of a real person without their consent Satirical cartoons of politicians

3. For satire, the workable distinction is: Whether the target is a public figure Realism — obvious commentary differs from a realistic fabrication Whether it is labelled

Recap

Apply the likeness test — recognisable and consenting — before publishing anything with a real person in it. Four categories have no defensible version: non-consensual sexual imagery, any sexual content involving minors, fabricated evidence, and impersonation for deception. Write your own rules down now, and make them narrow enough to survive being asked nicely. That completes E6.