the Lower Columbia
Where to find the new Reader
It’s delivered all around the River by the 15th of each month. Here’s the list of handy, regularlyrefilled sidewalk box and rack locations where you can pick up a copy any time of day and even in your bathrobe ... WESTPORT LONGVIEW Wauna mill U.S. Bank parking lot Post Office Bob’s (rack, main check-out) RAINIER In front of 1232 Commerce Ave Post Office In front of 1323 Commerce Ave Cornerstone YMCA Rainier Hardware Fred Meyer (rack, service desk area) (rack, entry) Teri’s Earth ‘n’ Sun (on Hwy 30) Grocery Outlet El Tapatio (entry rack) Fibre Fed’l CU - Commerce Ave Grocery Outlet Monticello Hotel (front entrance) DEER ISLAND Kaiser Permanente Deer Island Store St. John Medical Center (rack, Park Lake Café) COLUMBIA CITY - Post Office LCC Student Center WARREN Regents Warren Country Inn Indie Way Diner ST HELENS Columbia River Reader Office Chamber of Commerce 1333 14th Ave. Sunshine Pizza KELSO Post Office Heritage Bank Olde Town (Wild Currant) Visitors’ Center / Kelso-Longview Safeway Chamber of Commerce SCAPPOOSE KALAMA Post Office To find the 24/7 Fibre Fed’l CU Road Runner pick-up point Kalama Shopping Center Fultano’s nearest you, corner of First & Fir Ace Hardware visit crreader. McMenamin’s Harbor Lodge com and click WARRENTON, OR WOODLAND “Find the Fred Meyer Visitors’ Center Magazine” tab. CATHLAMET CASTLE ROCK Lacie Rha’s Cafe (32 Cowlitz W.) Cathlamet Pharmacy Tsuga Gallery Parker’s Restaurant (box, entry) Cathlamet Realty West Visitors’ Center Puget Island Ferry Landing 890 Huntington Ave. N. Exit 49, west side of I-5
RYDERWOOD Café porch CLATSKANIE Post Office Chevron / Mini-Mart Fultano’s Pizza
SKAMOKAWA Skamokawa General Store NASELLE Appelo Archives & Café Johnson’s One-Stop
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Informer by Perry Piper
Exception: When it comes to personal health risks like the pandemic, err on the side of caution even before proven. Wear a mask, distance and wash your hands.
Slow and steady saves face
W
e’re entering a crazy time leading up to the election, being in the middle of a worsening pandemic with 195,000+ Americans dying from it so far. On top of this, the news makes it seem like there are non-stop riots in Portland and other cities. Worst of all, especially since the media barely talks about it, is that easy access to new computer technology called “deepfakes” can make us doubt reality itself.
counting the money he received in settlements from the multiple media outlets who defamed him.
Tools are freely available now enabling people with basic tech skills to synthesize the voices, faces and bodies of real people to make videos showing them doing things they never actually did. The easiest way to do this is to film a mock event or speech of yourself or friends, then using a kind of facial puppetry, make the video very realistically look like it was done by a celebrity.
Luckily, Microsoft has just released its Video Authenticator tool for news, voting and political agencies to scan videos for an indication of their legitimacy. The main problem with this, though, is that it’s a game of cat and mouse between state actors, hackers and the good guys making these tools for the people. So we should take its results as one piece of evidence, not the absolute, final answer about any specific video.
We all need to be extra skeptical and less reactionary now. Even if it seems like some group or person has done horrendous things, try not to form an opinion until you have multiple pieces of high quality evidence from multiple sources and, in some instances, the case has been tried in court. It seems like people are reacting violently to initial and incomplete evidence, making inperson protests very dangerous. Here’s a recent example: Nick Sandmann, a Make America Great Again hat-wearing high schooler appeared to mock a Native American drummer. at a demonstration near the Lincoln Memorial. Later, multiple other camera angles confirmed it was far more complex than the first video made it seem. Everyone should have reserved judgment, because there was more to the story. But many jumped the gun, saying it was “obvious” the boy had bad intentions,” and was clearly a racist, bigoted punk. In truth, he probably had the last laugh and is still
It always struck me as a little odd that in the age of modern smartphones, every “leaked” video is so blurry, it’s like it came from ancient video cameras. Now I’m not saying every video like this has been faked, just that it’s easier to make fake videos that are blurry and low resolution; it takes less computer power and technical skill.
If this article is sounding your alarms for conspiracy theories, you can see if you can tell real from fake in an online quiz. It’s difficult for people who don’t follow technology closely to understand where the world really is right now — what is still science fiction and what isn’t — but things are changing breathtakingly fast. Visit spotdeepfakes.org/en-US and, after the intro, question 5 (video examples of original versus tampered-with content) is where things heat up. Remember, in this quiz you are taking your time to analyze what you know is fake. But are you going to take the time to verify in the heat of the moment when a friend sends an anger-inducing video of the political figures you may already dislike? Will you cross-check sources before passing judgment? Surprisingly, new footage has just surfaced in the case of George Floyd whose death sparked the months-long global protest. Some wonder if this may affect public opinion about the officers’ motives, and the outcome when they have their day in court. ••• Perry Piper keeps his “electric thumbs” on the pulse of emerging technologies. He is available to assist with computer and technology needs. See ad, page 30. He also likes chocolate. Columbia River Reader / September 15, 2020 / 29
