Denmark Just Took On Deepfakes. Here's How to Protect Your Family in the Meantime.
Denmark Wants to Copyright Your Face and Voice. Here's What That Won't Protect You From.
Here's a question I'd like you to sit with for a moment: who owns your voice?
Not who recorded it. Not who posted it. Who owns it, the way you own your name or your home?
For most of history, nobody needed to ask. Your voice was yours because nobody could make a copy that fooled the people who love you. That's changed. And this week, one country put its answer in writing.
What Denmark Just Proposed
Denmark is introducing a bill that would ban the sharing of realistic deepfakes of a person's face and voice without their consent. It works by amending the country's copyright law, which means ordinary people, and not only artists and celebrities, would get a form of control over their own likeness. The bill allows satire, parody, and criticism of those in power, but not misinformation that poses serious dangers to others. The government hopes it takes effect at the start of 2027, and a key goal is to get big tech platforms to take down manipulated content quickly.
I want to be precise, because that's how I do this. It's a proposal. It applies in Denmark. It isn't law yet.
I also want to be honest about something else. This is a good idea, and I'm glad someone is doing it. But a copyright amendment in Copenhagen won't stop a criminal in another country from cloning a voice and calling your mother. Laws mostly reach platforms and people who play by the rules. Scammers don't.
So while we wait for the rules to catch up, here's what protects your family today.
What Actually Protects Your Family Right Now
None of this requires you to be technical. It requires you to agree on a plan before you need one.
Pick a family safe word. Choose something only your family would know, that isn't posted anywhere online and can't be guessed. If someone calls claiming to be a relative in trouble, ask for it. A real family member will understand. A cloned voice won't know it. Tampa Bay Times recently covered a senior-center workshop where this was one of the key tips.
Hang up and call back. If a call from a "relative", a "bank", or anyone else asks for money or information, end it and call the person back on a number you already have. Security experts recommend callbacks to known numbers and second channels over trusting a voice.
Slow the moment down. Scams depend on urgency. If someone insists you act right now, that insistence is the warning sign. Take five minutes. Call someone else in the family.
Never confirm sensitive details to an incoming caller. Not your birthdate, not account numbers, no matter how real the voice sounds.
Talk about it at the dinner table, or on the phone. Tell your parents, your kids, and your grandparents that a voice is no longer proof. That conversation is the single most useful thing you can do, and it costs nothing.
If you want to go deeper on this, that's exactly what Seminar 2 of our Academy covers. It's a calm, practical, 90-minute live Zoom session for adults 55 and older on spotting fraud, scams, and AI-driven deception. The details are at the end of this post.
What Other Countries Are Doing
Denmark isn't alone, but the approaches look very different from place to place.
The European Union
Article 50 of the EU AI Act has applied since August 2, 2026. It requires people who publish deepfakes to disclose clearly that the content is artificially generated or manipulated, and it requires generative AI providers to mark synthetic audio, images, and video in a machine-readable way. Systems already on the market before August 2 have until December 2, 2026 to meet the marking requirement. Note the approach; it's about labeling, not about giving you ownership of your face and voice. Denmark's idea goes further.
The United Kingdom
The UK has focused on the most harmful category first. Sharing sexually explicit deepfakes became an offense under the Online Safety Act 2023, and since February 6, 2026, it's also an offense to create or request the creation of such images of an adult without consent. The Crime and Policing Act 2026 goes further, with offenses for making or supplying tools designed to generate these images. That's strong protection against one kind of abuse, but it isn't a general right over your voice or likeness.
The United States
Here, the leading proposal is the NO FAKES Act, which would create a federal right over your voice and visual likeness, with a notice-and-takedown process for unauthorized digital replicas. The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced it unanimously in June. Last week, on September 30, Sen. Marsha Blackburn tried to pass it on the Senate floor, and Sen. Ted Cruz blocked it, saying it lacked enough exceptions for satire and political commentary. Industry observers now say it may have to be reintroduced in 2027, though there is a chance it moves during the lame-duck session after the midterms. Meanwhile, the federal TAKE IT DOWN Act covers non-consensual intimate deepfakes.
Canada
Canada has a bill, but it's early. C-277, the Regulating the Online Use of Deepfakes Act, was introduced by MP Michael Coteau as a private member's bill and had its first reading on May 6, 2026. It would regulate the online use and spread of deepfakes, add transparency requirements, and create a system of monetary penalties. It hasn't reached second reading.
This Is Where You Come In
Look at that list again. Denmark has a proposal. The EU has labeling. The UK has targeted offenses. The US has a bill that nearly passed and was stopped by one senator. Canada has a bill waiting for a second reading.
Not one of those happened because lawmakers woke up one morning with a better idea. They happened because people made noise. And right now, in at least two of these countries, there's a live bill that could use more voices behind it.
Here is how an ordinary person can help, in about five minutes.
In the United States: Call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask for your two senators. Tell them you support the NO FAKES Act (S. 4591) and want it brought to a vote, with sensible protections for satire. Then do the same for your representative.
In Canada: Find your MP at ourcommons.ca and ask them to support Bill C-277 and to press for it to be debated.
In the United Kingdom: Use WriteToThem.com to find and email your MP. Ask what the government plans to do about voice cloning and impersonation fraud, which current deepfake offenses don't fully cover.
In the EU: Contact your MEP through the European Parliament's website, and your national government, and ask what they will do to give ordinary citizens control over their face and voice, as Denmark has proposed.
Whatever country you're in, here's what I'd ask for. Say it in your own words:
That ordinary people, not just celebrities, have a right to control their own voice and likeness.
That platforms have to remove unauthorized deepfakes quickly after being notified.
That reasonable exceptions protect satire and free speech, so the law is hard to challenge.
You don't need to be an expert. A staffer is counting calls and messages, and when enough people ask for the same thing, it moves up the list.
The Question I'd Leave You With
Ten years ago, hearing your daughter's voice on the phone was proof enough. Today it's a starting point.
That's not a reason to panic, and I'm not asking you to. It's a reason to decide, with your family, how you'll know it's really them. It's also a reason to ask the people we elect a simple question; if a machine can wear my voice, who is responsible for making sure it isn't used against me?
Make the plan. Make the call. And pass this on to someone who needs to hear it.
Stay sharp. Stay loud.
Join Us in the Academy
Our Academy seminars run live on Zoom, weekly, for adults 55 and older. Each is about 90 minutes.
Seminar 2, Building a Fraud, Scam & AI Defense Foundation ($40): https://www.tech4grownups.com/fraud-scam-ai-defense-seminar
Seminar 1, Reclaiming Confidence & Dignity with Technology ($40, or free with an Academy Toolkit pre-order): https://www.tech4grownups.com/confidence-dignity-seminar
The Academy Toolkit, coming soon: https://www.tech4grownups.com/academy-toolkit
Michael Routhier is the founder of Tech 4 Grown-Ups, providing honest, unfiltered digital literacy for adults 55+, and host of The Virtuous Machine, exploring the ethics and human cost of AI. Read by tech-curious readers in 200+ countries. Explore more at tech4grownups.com.
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