Bill Text: IL SB2786 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced

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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: (i) in order to harass, extort, threaten, or cause physical, emotional, reputational, or economic harm to an individual falsely depicted; (ii) 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 (iii) in order to incite violence or interfere with an official proceeding. Provides that the Act does not apply to a digital forgery that is clearly and conspicuously identified to make clear to a reasonable person that the audiovisual material was created through the use of artificial intelligence, or is not an authentic record of an act, a statement, or the conduct, absence, or presence of an individual, such as parody or satire, unless the material appears to be a sexual image as defined in the Civil Remedies for Nonconsensual Dissemination of Private Sexual Images Act. Provides that a depicted individual's consent to the creation of a digital forgery shall not alone establish consent to the distribution of that digital forgery, nor shall consent to previous disclosure of a digital forgery alone establish that the depicted individual consented to subsequent disclosures. 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.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Failed) 2025-01-07 - Session Sine Die [SB2786 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-SB2786-Introduced.html

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103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2023 and 2024 SB2786 Introduced 1/17/2024, by Sen. Mary Edly-Allen SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
New Act
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: (i) in order to harass, extort, threaten, or cause physical, emotional, reputational, or economic harm to an individual falsely depicted; (ii) 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 (iii) in order to incite violence or interfere with an official proceeding. Provides that the Act does not apply to a digital forgery that is clearly and conspicuously identified to make clear to a reasonable person that the audiovisual material was created through the use of artificial intelligence, or is not an authentic record of an act, a statement, or the conduct, absence, or presence of an individual, such as parody or satire, unless the material appears to be a sexual image as defined in the Civil Remedies for Nonconsensual Dissemination of Private Sexual Images Act. Provides that a depicted individual's consent to the creation of a digital forgery shall not alone establish consent to the distribution of that digital forgery, nor shall consent to previous disclosure of a digital forgery alone establish that the depicted individual consented to subsequent disclosures. 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.
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A BILL FOR
SB2786 LRB103 36313 LNS 66411 b
AN ACT concerning civil law.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
Digital Forgeries Act.
Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:
"Artificial intelligence" means a machine-based system
that can make predictions, recommendations, or decisions
influencing real or virtual environments for a given set of
human-defined objectives
"Digital forgery" means any audio or visual material that
has been created, materially manipulated, altered, or
annotated, through the use of artificial intelligence, to
appear to be a realistic record of an act, speech, conduct,
absence, or appearance of an individual.
"Official proceeding" includes any federal, State, local,
tribal, administrative adjudication, election, or rulemaking
proceeding.
Section 10. Civil action.
(a) 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

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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.
(b) This Section does not apply to a digital forgery that
is clearly and conspicuously identified to make clear to a
reasonable person that the audiovisual material was created
through the use of artificial intelligence, or is not an
authentic record of an act, a statement, or the conduct,
absence, or presence of an individual, such as parody or
satire, unless the material appears to be a sexual image as
defined in subsection (14) of Section 5 of the Civil Remedies
for Nonconsensual Dissemination of Private Sexual Images Act.
(c) A depicted individual's consent to the creation of a
digital forgery shall not alone establish consent to the
distribution of that digital forgery, nor shall consent to
previous disclosure of a digital forgery alone establish that
the depicted individual consented to subsequent disclosures.

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Section 15. Remedies.
(a) Under this Act, a prevailing plaintiff may be awarded:
(1) The greater of:
(A) economic and noneconomic damages proximately
caused by the creation or distribution of the digital
forgery, including damages for emotional distress
regardless of whether they are accompanied by other
damages; or
(B) statutory damages not to exceed $10,000
against each defendant found liable under this Act for
all disclosures and threatened disclosures by the
defendant of which the plaintiff knew or reasonably
should have known when filing the action or that
became known during the pendency of the action.
(2) An amount equal to any monetary gain made by the
defendant from the creation, distribution, or solicitation
of creation of the digital forgery.
(3) Punitive damages.
(4) The costs of the action, including reasonable
attorney's fees and other reasonable litigation costs.
(5) Additional relief, including equitable relief,
such as a temporary restraining order, a preliminary
injunction, or a permanent injunction ordering the
defendant to cease the display or disclosure of the
digital forgery.

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(b) This Act does not affect a right or remedy available
under any other law of this State.
Section 20. Preservation of anonymity. In ordering relief
under this Act, the court may grant injunctive relief
maintaining the confidentiality of a plaintiff using a
pseudonym.