Digital Mimicry: Protecting Personal Rights from the Illegal Use of Deepfake Technologies

The present study is devoted to a comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon of "digital mimicry" – the illegal use of deep synthesis technologies (deepfake) in the context of protecting individual rights. The subject encompasses both criminal law and forensic aspects of the application of synthetic audio and video materials that reproduce a person's biometric characteristics (appearance, voice, facial expressions) without their consent. Special attention is paid to the qualification of unlawful acts related to deepfakes within the current Russian legislation, identifying gaps in legal regulation, and their correlation with international approaches. Typical models of criminal schemes, including deepfake fraud and "virtual kidnapping," are analyzed, as well as the issues of the admissibility of using synthetic media for cultural, educational, and law enforcement purposes. The research is based on the study of judicial practice, doctrinal sources, comparative legal data, and technological characteristics of modern deep synthesis algorithms. The study employs formal-legal, comparative-legal, forensic, and system-structural methods, combined with an analysis of judicial practice and regulatory acts. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the comprehensive interdisciplinary examination of the deepfake phenomenon from the perspectives of criminal law, forensic science, and comparative jurisprudence, as well as in formulating proposals for improving Russian legislation in the field of biometric data protection. For the first time, the main models of illegal application of deep synthesis technologies have been systematized and classified, gaps in the qualification of acts related to the forgery of images or voices have been identified, and the necessity of introducing an independent criminal offense into the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation has been justified, stipulating liability for the illegal use of synthetic biometric images. Additionally, the significance of implementing procedural guarantees ensuring the admissibility of digital evidence obtained using specialized deepfake detection algorithms has been substantiated. A conclusion has been drawn about the feasibility of developing a unified methodology for proving the fact of deepfake use, integrating automated detection systems, and harmonizing national regulations with international standards.