Adobe Voco Causes Security Risks

Adobe Voco promises to come up as the Photoshop of speech after its launch in the end of October, 2016. However, it has reportedly raised ethical and security issues since then. The new software allows you to record an audio and quickly edit it for including words and phrases that originally were never spoken. But the editing is done in the same sound like their original voice. Some experts warn that the new software could be further undermining faith in journalism and it may also pose a security risk.

However, Adobe says it is looking into the matter and will soon discover the solutions to address certain risks.

The U.S software company on Thursday gave a live demo in San Diego and took a digitalized recording of a boy talking who says he kissed his dogs and his wife. Adobe changed the words as he kissed Jordan three times. The alteration didn't take long and performed editing in seconds. The process simply involved the data operator who overtyped a transcript of whatever the man was speaking and then pressed a button for creating the illusion voice recording.

Zeyu Jin from Adobe told the media that they have already revolutionized photo editing and now it's time for them to do with the audio. Adding more about the software, he said it needs almost 20 minutes of a person's speech for making the process possible.

Dr. Eddy Borges Rey from University of Stirling confessed he was actually horrified with the latest development by Adobe. He is a lecturer in media and technology at the university and says, it appears that the programmers ignored the ethical part in the excitement of creating something creative in voice manipulation. The software makes it very difficult for lawyers and journalists who are using digital media as evidence.

The software is also facing legal backlash after it was caught with advertisers misusing the application and most experts believe even if it was released for commercial purposes, it would follow its forerunner with same consequences.

In addition, the security risk extends as people aren't only being fooled but also thinking that others have said something about them which they actually didn't. The risks have grown even stronger as businesses including banks have begun with voiceprint checks in order to acknowledge the clients who say they are when they're calling in.

One of the researchers says the companies that have a great involvement in all this were already anticipating something like Adobe has invented.

In addition, there was similar kind of remarks from University College London saying though this is the latest technology and Adobe's users were long anticipating its launch, it does underline the principles that have been understood for some time. The comments were given from the table of Dr. Steven Murdoch who also says it must take care of security risks that are associated with the application.

Besides experts and other technology associated officials, biometric companies have too expressed their concerns about Adobe Voco. They say they don't think their products are going to be tricked with this application as they are different from the things that people look for when identifying others. However, there is only a way to test them before they get the answer.

On the other hand, Google also revealed a voice mimicking system in September 2016. Known as WaveNet, the rival software was launched by company's DeepMind division. However, it still needs lots of processing power to become a customers’ product in coming days.

In order to make it a viable product, Adobe has spoken of its consumers who use Voco for fixing podcast as well as audio recording with no need of rebooking voiceover artists. Despite that, a spokeswoman emphasizes saying this didn't indicate that its launch was about to happen. She said the software might or might not be released as a product or as the feature of a product. That's why, there's no announcement of its shipment date as yet.

Meanwhile, Adobe also revealed its team was thoroughly researching different ways to find out the use of Voco. Moreover, Mr. Jin from the company at the live demo referred to a method which is usually used for hiding identifiers in pictures and other media.