Bill Text: IL SB1392 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Creates the Digital Forgeries Act. Provides that an individual depicted in a digital forgery has a cause of action against any person who, without the consent of the depicted individual, knowingly distributes a digital forgery, creates a digital forgery with intent to distribute, or solicits the creation of a digital forgery with the intent to distribute: (1) in order to harass, extort, threaten, or cause physical, emotional, reputational, or economic harm to an individual falsely depicted; (2) with reckless disregard for whether such a creation, distribution, reproduction, or manipulation will cause physical, emotional, reputational, or economic harm to an individual falsely depicted; or (3) in order to incite violence or interfere with an official proceeding. Allows a prevailing plaintiff to be awarded damages, costs, and additional relief. Allows the court to grant injunctive relief maintaining the confidentiality of a plaintiff using a pseudonym.
Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 28-2)
Status: (Introduced) 2023-03-31 - Rule 3-9(a) / Re-referred to Assignments [SB1392 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2023-SB1392-Introduced.html
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1 | AN ACT concerning civil law.
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2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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4 | Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the | |||||||||||||||||||
5 | Digital Forgeries Act.
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6 | Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act: | |||||||||||||||||||
7 | "Digital forgery" means any audio or visual material that | |||||||||||||||||||
8 | has been created, materially manipulated, altered, or | |||||||||||||||||||
9 | annotated to appear to be a realistic record of an act, speech, | |||||||||||||||||||
10 | conduct, absence, or appearance of an individual. | |||||||||||||||||||
11 | "Official proceeding" includes any federal, State, local, | |||||||||||||||||||
12 | tribal, administrative adjudication, election, or rulemaking | |||||||||||||||||||
13 | proceeding.
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14 | Section 10. Civil action. | |||||||||||||||||||
15 | (a) An individual depicted in a digital forgery has a | |||||||||||||||||||
16 | cause of action against any person who, without the consent of | |||||||||||||||||||
17 | the depicted individual, knowingly distributes a digital | |||||||||||||||||||
18 | forgery, creates a digital forgery with intent to distribute, | |||||||||||||||||||
19 | or solicits the creation of a digital forgery with the intent | |||||||||||||||||||
20 | to distribute: | |||||||||||||||||||
21 | (1) in order to harass, extort, threaten, or cause | |||||||||||||||||||
22 | physical, emotional, reputational, or economic harm to an |
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1 | individual falsely depicted; | ||||||
2 | (2) with reckless disregard for whether such a | ||||||
3 | creation, distribution, reproduction, or manipulation will | ||||||
4 | cause physical, emotional, reputational, or economic harm | ||||||
5 | to an individual falsely depicted; or
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6 | (3) in order to incite violence or interfere with an | ||||||
7 | official proceeding.
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8 | (b) This Section does not apply to digitally manipulated | ||||||
9 | audiovisual material that is clearly and conspicuously labeled | ||||||
10 | to make clear to a reasonable observer that it is not an | ||||||
11 | authentic record of an act, speech, conduct, absence, or | ||||||
12 | appearance of an individual, unless the material appears to be | ||||||
13 | a sexual image as defined in subsection (14) of Section 5 of | ||||||
14 | the Civil Remedies for Nonconsensual Dissemination of Private | ||||||
15 | Sexual Images Act.
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16 | (c) A depicted individual's consent to the creation of a | ||||||
17 | digital forgery shall not alone establish consent to the | ||||||
18 | distribution of that digital forgery, nor shall consent to | ||||||
19 | previous disclosure of a digital forgery alone establish that | ||||||
20 | the depicted individual consented to subsequent disclosures.
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21 | Section 15. Remedies. | ||||||
22 | (a) Under this Act, a prevailing plaintiff may be awarded:
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23 | (1) The greater of:
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24 | (A) economic and noneconomic damages proximately | ||||||
25 | caused by the creation or distribution of the digital |
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1 | forgery, including damages for emotional distress | ||||||
2 | regardless of whether they are accompanied by other | ||||||
3 | damages; or
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4 | (B) statutory damages not to exceed $10,000 | ||||||
5 | against each defendant found liable under this Act for | ||||||
6 | all disclosures and threatened disclosures by the | ||||||
7 | defendant of which the plaintiff knew or reasonably | ||||||
8 | should have known when filing the action or that | ||||||
9 | became known during the pendency of the action.
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10 | (2) An amount equal to any monetary gain made by the | ||||||
11 | defendant from the creation, distribution, or solicitation | ||||||
12 | of creation of the digital forgery.
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13 | (3) Punitive damages.
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14 | (4) The costs of the action, including reasonable | ||||||
15 | attorney's fees and other reasonable litigation costs. | ||||||
16 | (5) Additional relief, including equitable relief, | ||||||
17 | such as a temporary restraining order, a preliminary | ||||||
18 | injunction, or a permanent injunction ordering the | ||||||
19 | defendant to cease the display or disclosure of the | ||||||
20 | digital forgery.
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21 | (b) This Act does not affect a right or remedy available | ||||||
22 | under any other law of this State.
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23 | Section 20. Preservation of Anonymity. In ordering relief | ||||||
24 | under this Act, the court may grant injunctive relief | ||||||
25 | maintaining the confidentiality of a plaintiff using a |
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1 | pseudonym.
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2 | Section 25. Severability. The provisions of this Act are | ||||||
3 | severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes.
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