Etienne Brisson, founder of The Human Line Project, stated in a French podcast interview that they are working on documentaries. ChatGPT’s English translation:
“Many media outlets have also talked about it. We’re working on documentaries right now.“
The official Human Line Project website invites people to submit their stories promising, “The information provided will not be shared with the media or disclosed without your explicit consent. Our sole objective is to better understand these impacts and promote responsible development within the industry.”
But after you’ve written out your story, there is a disclaimer checkbox that includes permanent worldwide republication rights without any compensation and without any recourse to sue.
No liability for publication
To the extent permitted under the laws of Canada and the Province of Québec, I accept that The Human Line Project is not liable for:
- damages, losses or consequences resulting from the publication of my story (the text);
- the posting, abridgement, anonymisation or removal (or failure to do so) of my story (the text);
- the use, sharing or copying of my story (the text) by third parties after it has been published online.
By agreeing to the publication of my story (the text), I acknowledge that publication on the internet always carries the risk that the content will be shared by others, beyond the control of The Human Line Project.
This is IP acquisition language, not mental health care, advocacy or accredited academia. It explicitly targets people who have already experienced emotional distress, manipulation, psychosis, hospitalization, or addiction. Presenting a broad liability waiver to a demonstrably vulnerable population, embedded in a checkbox at the bottom of a survey, raises serious questions about whether consent is genuinely free and informed as required under Quebec law.
Have the members who submitted their stories through The Human Line’s intake form been informed:
- that the organization collecting their stories is a for-profit corporation?
- that their personal trauma disclosures may be used in documentary content?
If you would like to lodge a complaint about how The Human Line Project has handled your sensitive data, you can do so here. The government of Quebec actually has very strict privacy laws.
“There are no rules”
I’ve been arguing that victim stories are being harvested as commercial assets for litigation financing. Faux support group member Cori Shepherd Stern’s business partner at Story Force Entertainment describes harvesting victim stories for commercial assets as intellectual property.
“It really is amazing where IP comes from these days and what you can mine. There are no rules”
All of which leads me to this question: Is Story Force Entertainment currently in development on any documentary or scripted project involving AI harm, The Human Line Project, or any of the plaintiffs in the OpenAI lawsuits?
The ethics question in the video was an easy softball for someone with her body of work based on trauma survivors so her absolute fumble here is a slip of the ethical mask Story Force Entertainment tries so hard to wear. She immediately narrows her focus to how ethics may effect her ability to get away with taking advantage of less knowledgeable people. She could have chosen from any myriad of ethical subjects in documentary filmmaking, so I find it interesting that is the one that first came to her mind.
When it comes to the utility of her law degree in show business, Faust said,
“If I’m going to get myself into a pickle I know I’m getting myself into a pickle. I’m walking into it eyes wide open.”
That sounds like the language of someone who doesn’t avoid ethical problems, but someone who calculates them in advance to see if they like their chances….
