Bill Text: NY A04217 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes the crime of aggravated harassment by means of electronic or digital communication; provides for a private right of action for the unlawful dissemination or publication of deep fakes, which are digitized images which are altered to incorporate a person's face or their identifiable body part onto an image and such image depicts a pornographic or lewd sex act or graphic violence.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - referred to science and technology [A04217 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-A04217-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4217 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 13, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. OTIS, BRAUNSTEIN -- read once and referred to the Committee on Science and Technology AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to establishing the crime of aggravated harassment by means of electronic or digital communication; and to amend the civil rights law, in relation to providing for a private right of action for the unlawful dissemination or publication of deep fakes The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The penal law is amended by adding a new section 240.80 to 2 read as follows: 3 § 240.80 Aggravated harassment by means of electronic or digital commu- 4 nication. 5 1. A person is guilty of aggravated harassment by means of electronic 6 or digital communication when, with the intent to harass, annoy, threat- 7 en or alarm another person, he or she produces, distributes, publishes 8 or broadcasts material that contains a picture, photograph or image of a 9 person or persons or a deep fake into which the image of another person 10 or persons is superimposed as a deep fake. 11 2. For purposes of this section, "deep fake" means a digitized image 12 that is altered to incorporate a person's face or their identifiable 13 body part onto such image, and such image is any printed material, 14 advertisement, movie, video, communication or computer image that 15 depicts a pornographic or lewd sex act as defined pursuant to section 16 245.00 or 130.00 of this part, or graphic violence, that is published 17 without the explicit written permission of the individual or individuals 18 depicted, and for no other legitimate purpose other than to harass, 19 annoy, threaten or alarm another person. 20 Aggravated harassment by means of electronic or digital communication 21 shall be a class A misdemeanor. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD07743-01-3A. 4217 2 1 § 2. Section 52-b of the civil rights law, as added by chapter 109 of 2 the laws of 2019, is amended to read as follows: 3 § 52-b. Private right of action for unlawful dissemination or publica- 4 tion of an intimate image or deep fake. 1. Any person depicted in a 5 still or video image, regardless of whether or not the original still or 6 video image was consensually obtained, shall have a cause of action 7 against an individual who, for the purpose of harassing, annoying or 8 alarming such person, disseminated or published, or threatened to 9 disseminate or publish, such still or video image, where such image or 10 deep fake: 11 a. was a deep fake or was taken when such person had a reasonable 12 expectation that [the] their image would remain private; and 13 b. depicts (i) an unclothed or exposed intimate part of such person; 14 or (ii) such person engaging in sexual conduct, as defined in subdivi- 15 sion ten of section 130.00 of the penal law, with another person; and 16 c. was disseminated or published, or threatened to be disseminated or 17 published, without the consent of such person. 18 2. In any action commenced pursuant to subdivision one of this 19 section, the finder of fact, in its discretion, may award injunctive 20 relief, punitive damages, compensatory damages and reasonable court 21 costs and attorney's fees. 22 3. This section shall not apply to the following: 23 a. the reporting of unlawful conduct; 24 b. dissemination or publication of an intimate still [or], video image 25 or deep fake made during lawful and common practices of law enforcement, 26 legal proceedings or medical treatment; 27 c. images involving voluntary exposure in a public or commercial 28 setting; or 29 d. dissemination or publication of an intimate still [or], video image 30 or deep fake made for a legitimate public purpose. 31 4. Any person depicted in a still or video image or deep fake that 32 depicts an unclothed or exposed intimate part of such person, or such 33 person engaging in sexual conduct as defined in subdivision ten of 34 section 130.00 of the penal law with another person, which is dissem- 35 inated or published without the consent of such person and where such 36 person had a reasonable expectation that the image would remain private, 37 may maintain an action or special proceeding for a court order to 38 require any website that is subject to personal jurisdiction under 39 subdivision five of this section to permanently remove such still [or], 40 video image or deep fake; any such court order granted pursuant to this 41 subdivision may direct removal only as to images that are reasonably 42 within such website's control. 43 5. a. Any website that hosts or transmits a still or video image or 44 deep fake, viewable in this state, taken or produced under circumstances 45 where the person depicted had a reasonable expectation that the image 46 would remain private, which depicts: 47 (i) an unclothed or exposed intimate part, as defined in section 48 245.15 of the penal law, of a resident of this state; or 49 (ii) a resident of this state engaging in sexual conduct as defined in 50 subdivision ten of section 130.00 of the penal law with another person; 51 and 52 b. Such still [or], video image or deep fake is hosted or transmitted 53 without the consent of such resident of this state, shall be subject to 54 personal jurisdiction in a civil action in this state to the maximum 55 extent permitted under the United States constitution and federal law.A. 4217 3 1 6. A cause of action or special proceeding under this section shall be 2 commenced the later of either: 3 a. three years after the dissemination or publication of an image; or 4 b. one year from the date a person discovers, or reasonably should 5 have discovered, the dissemination or publication of such image. 6 6-a. For purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the 7 following meanings: 8 a. "Individual" means a person, corporation, business entity, firm, 9 association, committee or organization conducting business within the 10 state of New York. 11 b. "Deep fake" means a digitized image that is altered to incorporate 12 a person's face or their identifiable body part onto such image, and 13 such image is any printed material, advertisement, movie, video, commu- 14 nication or computer image that depicts a pornographic or lewd sex act 15 as defined pursuant to section 245.00 or 130.00 of the penal law, or 16 graphic violence, that is published without the explicit written permis- 17 sion of the individual or individuals depicted, and for no other legiti- 18 mate purpose other than to harass, annoy, threaten or alarm another 19 person. 20 7. Nothing herein shall be read to require a prior criminal complaint, 21 prosecution or conviction to establish the elements of the cause of 22 action provided for by this section. 23 8. The provisions of this section are in addition to, but shall not 24 supersede, any other rights or remedies available in law or equity. 25 9. If any provision of this section or its application to any person 26 or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect other 27 provisions or applications of this section which can be given effect 28 without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the 29 provisions of this section are severable. 30 10. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit, or to 31 enlarge, the protections that 47 U.S.C § 230 confers on an interactive 32 computer service for content provided by another information content 33 provider, as such terms are defined in 47 U.S.C. § 230. 34 § 3. Section 52-c of the civil rights law, as added by chapter 304 of 35 the laws of 2020, is amended to read as follows: 36 § 52-c. Private right of action for unlawful dissemination or publica- 37 tion of a sexually explicit depiction or deep fake of an individual. 1. 38 For the purposes of this section: 39 a. "depicted individual" means an individual who appears, as a result 40 of digitization, to be giving a performance they did not actually 41 perform or to be performing in a performance that was actually performed 42 by the depicted individual but was subsequently altered to be in 43 violation of this section. 44 b. "digitization" means to realistically depict the nude body parts of 45 another human being as the nude body parts of the depicted individual, 46 computer-generated nude body parts as the nude body parts of the 47 depicted individual or the depicted individual engaging in sexual 48 conduct, as defined in subdivision ten of section 130.00 of the penal 49 law, in which the depicted individual did not engage. 50 c. "individual" means a natural person. 51 d. "person" means a human being or legal entity. 52 e. "sexually explicit material" means any portion of an audio visual 53 work, or deep fake, that shows the depicted individual performing in the 54 nude, meaning with an unclothed or exposed intimate part, as defined in 55 section 245.15 of the penal law, or appearing to engage in, or beingA. 4217 4 1 subjected to, sexual conduct, as defined in subdivision ten of section 2 130.00 of the penal law. 3 f. "deep fake" means a digitized image that is altered to incorporate 4 an individual's face or their identifiable body part onto such image, 5 and such image is any printed material, advertisement, movie, video, 6 communication or computer image that depicts a pornographic or lewd sex 7 act as defined pursuant to section 245.00 or 130.00 of the penal law, or 8 graphic violence, that is published without the explicit written permis- 9 sion of the individual or individuals depicted, and for no other legiti- 10 mate purpose other than to harass, annoy, threaten or alarm another 11 person. 12 2. a. A depicted individual shall have a cause of action against a 13 person who, discloses, disseminates, produces or publishes sexually 14 explicit material or a deep fake related to the depicted individual, and 15 the person knows or reasonably should have known the depicted individual 16 in that material did not consent to its creation, disclosure, dissem- 17 ination, production or publication. 18 b. It shall not be a defense to an action under this section that 19 there is a disclaimer in the sexually explicit material that communi- 20 cates that the inclusion of the depicted individual in the sexually 21 explicit material was unauthorized or that the depicted individual did 22 not participate in the creation or development of the material. 23 3. a. A depicted individual may only consent to the creation, disclo- 24 sure, dissemination, production, or publication of sexually explicit 25 material or a deep fake by knowingly and voluntarily signing an agree- 26 ment written in plain language that includes a general description of 27 the sexually explicit material and the audiovisual work in which it will 28 be incorporated. 29 b. A depicted individual may rescind consent by delivering written 30 notice within three business days from the date consent was given to the 31 person in whose favor consent was made, unless one of the following 32 requirements is satisfied: 33 i. the depicted individual is given at least three business days to 34 review the terms of the agreement before signing it; or 35 ii. if the depicted individual is represented, the attorney, talent 36 agent, or personal manager authorized to represent the depicted individ- 37 ual provides additional written approval of the signed agreement. 38 4. a. A person is not liable under this section if: 39 i. the person discloses, disseminates or publishes the sexually 40 explicit material in the course of reporting unlawful activity, exercis- 41 ing the person's law enforcement duties, or hearings, trials or other 42 legal proceedings; or 43 ii. the sexually explicit material is a matter of legitimate public 44 concern, a work of political or newsworthy value or similar work, or 45 commentary, criticism or disclosure that is otherwise protected by the 46 constitution of this state or the United States; provided that sexually 47 explicit material shall not be considered of newsworthy value solely 48 because the depicted individual is a public figure. 49 5. In any action commenced pursuant to this section, the finder of 50 fact, in its discretion, may award injunctive relief, punitive damages, 51 compensatory damages, and reasonable court costs and attorney's fees. 52 6. A cause of action or special proceeding under this section shall be 53 commenced the later of either: 54 a. three years after the dissemination or publication of sexually 55 explicit material; orA. 4217 5 1 b. one year from the date a person discovers, or reasonably should 2 have discovered, the dissemination or publication of such sexually 3 explicit material. 4 7. Nothing in this section shall be read to require a prior criminal 5 complaint, prosecution or conviction to establish the elements of the 6 cause of action provided for in this section. 7 8. The provisions of this section including the remedies are in addi- 8 tion to, and shall not supersede, any other rights or remedies available 9 in law or equity. 10 9. If any provision of this section or its application to any person 11 or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect other 12 provisions or applications of this section which can be given effect 13 without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the 14 provisions of this section are severable. 15 10. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit, or to 16 enlarge, the protections that 47 U.S.C. § 230 confers on an interactive 17 computer service for content provided by another information content 18 provider, as such terms are defined in 47 U.S.C. § 230. 19 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
