Bill > LD1944

This bill expands legal protections against the unauthorized dissemination of private, intimate images, including artificially generated or digitally manipulated images that appear to depict a person in a nude, sexual, or sexually compromising state. The bill broadens the definition of "harassment" to include threats of sharing such images, and updates the existing law on unauthorized image dissemination to explicitly cover digitally created or modified images that resemble the victim. Specifically, the bill defines "image" very broadly to include any mechanically, electronically, or chemically reproduced visual representation, such as photographs, computer files, animations, and livestreams. The legislation makes it a punishable offense to intentionally share intimate images of an identifiable person without their consent and with the intent to harass, torment, or threaten them, even if the image is artificially generated. Additionally, the bill adds communicating a threat to disseminate such images as a form of harassment, particularly when such a threat is likely to cause reasonable fear in the person depicted. These changes aim to provide stronger legal recourse for individuals whose privacy and dignity might be violated through the malicious sharing of intimate images, including those created using artificial intelligence or digital manipulation technologies.

Justice

https://legislature.maine.gov/legis/bills/display_ps.asp?LD=1944&snum=132