Deepfake Forensic Analysis: Source Dataset Attribution and Legal Implications of Synthetic Media Manipulation

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Cassia, Massimiliano, Guarnera, Luca, Casu, Mirko, Zangara, Ignazio, Battiato, Sebastiano
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Cassia, Massimiliano
Guarnera, Luca
Casu, Mirko
Zangara, Ignazio
Battiato, Sebastiano
author_facet Cassia, Massimiliano
Guarnera, Luca
Casu, Mirko
Zangara, Ignazio
Battiato, Sebastiano
contents Synthetic media generated by Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) pose significant challenges in verifying authenticity and tracing dataset origins, raising critical concerns in copyright enforcement, privacy protection, and legal compliance. This paper introduces a novel forensic framework for identifying the training dataset (e.g., CelebA or FFHQ) of GAN-generated images through interpretable feature analysis. By integrating spectral transforms (Fourier/DCT), color distribution metrics, and local feature descriptors (SIFT), our pipeline extracts discriminative statistical signatures embedded in synthetic outputs. Supervised classifiers (Random Forest, SVM, XGBoost) achieve 98-99% accuracy in binary classification (real vs. synthetic) and multi-class dataset attribution across diverse GAN architectures (StyleGAN, AttGAN, GDWCT, StarGAN, and StyleGAN2). Experimental results highlight the dominance of frequency-domain features (DCT/FFT) in capturing dataset-specific artifacts, such as upsampling patterns and spectral irregularities, while color histograms reveal implicit regularization strategies in GAN training. We further examine legal and ethical implications, showing how dataset attribution can address copyright infringement, unauthorized use of personal data, and regulatory compliance under frameworks like GDPR and California's AB 602. Our framework advances accountability and governance in generative modeling, with applications in digital forensics, content moderation, and intellectual property litigation.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_11110
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Deepfake Forensic Analysis: Source Dataset Attribution and Legal Implications of Synthetic Media Manipulation
Cassia, Massimiliano
Guarnera, Luca
Casu, Mirko
Zangara, Ignazio
Battiato, Sebastiano
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Synthetic media generated by Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) pose significant challenges in verifying authenticity and tracing dataset origins, raising critical concerns in copyright enforcement, privacy protection, and legal compliance. This paper introduces a novel forensic framework for identifying the training dataset (e.g., CelebA or FFHQ) of GAN-generated images through interpretable feature analysis. By integrating spectral transforms (Fourier/DCT), color distribution metrics, and local feature descriptors (SIFT), our pipeline extracts discriminative statistical signatures embedded in synthetic outputs. Supervised classifiers (Random Forest, SVM, XGBoost) achieve 98-99% accuracy in binary classification (real vs. synthetic) and multi-class dataset attribution across diverse GAN architectures (StyleGAN, AttGAN, GDWCT, StarGAN, and StyleGAN2). Experimental results highlight the dominance of frequency-domain features (DCT/FFT) in capturing dataset-specific artifacts, such as upsampling patterns and spectral irregularities, while color histograms reveal implicit regularization strategies in GAN training. We further examine legal and ethical implications, showing how dataset attribution can address copyright infringement, unauthorized use of personal data, and regulatory compliance under frameworks like GDPR and California's AB 602. Our framework advances accountability and governance in generative modeling, with applications in digital forensics, content moderation, and intellectual property litigation.
title Deepfake Forensic Analysis: Source Dataset Attribution and Legal Implications of Synthetic Media Manipulation
topic Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.11110