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Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly hopes that her proposal, called the “Digital Manipulation Protection Act,” would close any loopholes left open by the current New York State law.
The proposal was announced Tuesday, April 18, alongside the news that a 22-year-old Seaford man had been sentenced for stealing and manipulating underage girls’ photos for use on a pornographic website.
Specifically, Donnelly’s proposal is meant to target “deepfakes” and would be the state’s first criminal statute to do so.
A “deepfake” is an image or video manipulated using artificial intelligence to misrepresent a person, place, or event.
With the advancement of AI technology and its accessibility, “deepfakes” are becoming more widespread and are often difficult to spot as fake. "New York State currently lacks the adequate criminal statutes to protect victims of ‘deepfake’ pornography, both adults and children,” DA Donnelly said.
"We cannot protect New Yorkers without making these changes.”
Under the “Digital Manipulation Protection Act,” the following crimes would be established:
- Unlawful Publication of a Sexually Explicit Depiction of an Individual, a proposed class A misdemeanor;
- Unlawful Dissemination of a Sexually Explicit Depiction of an Individual, a proposed class B misdemeanor;
- Unlawful Distribution of a Sexually Explicit Depiction of a Child in the First Degree, a proposed class D felony;
- Unlawful Distribution of a Sexually Explicit Depiction of a Child in the Second Degree, a proposed class E felony; and
- Unlawful Access of a Sexually Explicit Depiction of a Child, a proposed class A misdemeanor.
As of publication, only one bill has been proposed on a federal level targeting “deepfakes.” It was introduced to the House of Representatives in 2019 and no further action has been taken.
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