Bill Text: CA AB602 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Depiction of individual using digital or electronic technology: sexually explicit material: cause of action.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2019-10-03 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 491, Statutes of 2019. [AB602 Detail]
Download: California-2019-AB602-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Depiction of individual using digital or electronic technology: sexually explicit material: cause of action.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2019-10-03 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 491, Statutes of 2019. [AB602 Detail]
Download: California-2019-AB602-Introduced.html
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill | No. 602 |
Introduced by Assembly Member Berman |
February 14, 2019 |
An act to add Section 644 to the Penal Code, relating to deceptive recordings.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 602, as introduced, Berman.
Crimes: deceptive recordings.
Existing law creates a civil cause of action for using the name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness of another person, without their consent, in any manner, for the purpose of advertising, selling, or soliciting.
Existing law also creates a civil cause of action for capturing or attempting to capture, in a manner that is offensive to a reasonable person, any type of image or recording of a person engaging in a private, personal, or familial activity.
Existing law prohibits the distribution of an intimate image, as described, of an identifiable person that was taken under circumstances in which the persons agreed or understood that the image was to remain private.
This bill would prohibit the creation of a deceptive recording, as defined, with intent to
distribute, as specified. This bill would also prohibit the willfull distribution of a deceptive video, as specified. The bill would make the violation of these prohibitions a misdemeanor. The bill would exempt from prosecution an internet service, as described, that hosts content posted by other parties.
By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YESBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 644 is added to the Penal Code, to read:644.
(a) A person who creates a deceptive recording with the intent to distribute the recording, knowing that the recording is likely to deceive any person who views the recording, or likely to defame, slander, or embarass the subject of the recording, is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars ($2,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment.(b) A person who willfully distributes a deceptive recording that the person knows, or reasonably should have known, is a deceptive recording, knowing that the recording is likely to deceive any person who views the recording, or to defame, slander, or embarass the subject of the recording, is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not
exceeding one year, or by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars ($2,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment.
(c) An internet service that hosts content that is uploaded or posted by parties that are not employed by or affiliated with that internet service shall not be prosecuted under this section for any deceptive recording viewable on that service that has been uploaded or posted by a party that is not employed by or affiliated with that internet service.
(d) As used in this section, a “deceptive recording,” sometimes referred to as a deepfake, means any audio or video recording that has been created or altered in such a manner that it falsely appears, to a reasonable observer, to be an authentic recording of a person’s actual speech or actions. A deceptive recording does not include any recording that is satire or parody, or that otherwise, because of content, context,
or a clear disclosure, would not cause a reasonable person to believe that it is real.