HF5157

Purpose

This bill creates a criminal offense to stop the nonconsensual creation or distribution of nudification images. It aims to protect individuals from being harmed by manipulated or generated images that suggest they are nude or engaging in sexual acts, even if the person did not appear that way in the original material.

What the bill would do

• Prohibits: Intentionally creating or disseminating a nudification image when the person depicted did not consent and is identifiable from the image or from personal information connected to the image.
• Establishes penalties: A felony with up to 5 years in prison or a fine up to $10,000, or both.
• Adds aggravating factors that can raise penalties (up to 10 years or a $20,000 fine), including financial loss to the person, intent to profit, running a website or app to create/disseminate nudification images, posting the image online, harassing the depicted person, obtaining source material through other criminal actions, or prior related convictions.
• Requires the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission to assign an appropriate severity level, considering factors like the nonconsensual nature, the potential harm, and how widely it could spread.
• Does not allow the defense of consent to a private transmission to excuse the offense.

Definitions (key terms)

• Nudification image: An image, photo, video, or other visual record that results from nudification and shows the person nude, exposing intimate parts, or engaging in a sexual act, even if the original material did not show them in that state.
• Nudification: The process of altering or generating an image/video to depict an intimate part not depicted in the original, such that a reasonable person would believe the intimate part belongs to the identifiable person.
• Dissemination: Sharing or distributing the nudification image with one or more people other than the person depicted, through any publicly available medium.
• Intimate parts: The body parts defined as intimate in existing law.
• Personal information: Identifiers that allow contact or identify a person (name, address, phone, email, social media, etc.) or geolocation data.

Prohibited conduct (scope of the crime)

• The offense covers creating or disseminating nudification images when the depicted person did not consent and the person is identifiable from the image or from associated personal information.

Venue and jurisdiction

• Prosecution can occur in the county where the offense happened, the actor’s county, the depicted person’s county, or the county where the image was produced, reproduced, stored, received, or possessed.

Exemptions (when the law would not apply)

• Law enforcement or criminal investigations or prosecutions.
• Reporting unlawful conduct.
• Medical or mental health treatment where dissemination is protected.
• Certain commercial settings where the person knew or should have known a nudification image would be created and shared.
• Matters of public interest serving a lawful public purpose, if the image is clearly identified as a nudification image and shared in good faith.
• Legitimate scientific research or educational purposes, with clear identification and efforts to minimize further dissemination, or as protected by court order.

Immunity for providers

• Interactive or private/public communications services and other providers are not criminally liable for content created or posted by third parties.

Codification

• The bill would codify these provisions in Minnesota Statutes, establishing a new offense under the relevant chapter.

Relevant terms - Nudification image - Nudification - Nonconsensual creation or dissemination - Dissemination - Intimate parts - Personal information - Identifiable - Felony - Aggravating factors - Financial loss - Profit motive - Harassment - Prior conviction - Sentencing Guidelines Commission - Venues: county of offense, residence, depicted individual, or where image was handled - Exemptions (law enforcement, public interest, research, education) - Immunity for service providers - Public interest - Revenge porn (contextual public term)

Relevant Terms (plain list) nudification image; nudification; nonconsensual creation; dissemination; intimate parts; personal information; identifiable; felony; aggravated factors; profit; harassment; financial loss; internet website/app; sentencing guidelines; venue; exemptions; immunity; public interest; research; education