Rep. Mary Edly-Allen

Filed: 5/22/2019

 

 


 

 


 
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1
AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 1507

2    AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 1507 by replacing
3everything after the enacting clause with the following:
 
4    "Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Civil
5Remedies for Nonconsensual Dissemination of Private Sexual
6Images Act.
 
7    Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:
8    (1) "Child" means an unemancipated individual who is less
9than 18 years of age.
10    (2) "Consent" means affirmative, conscious, and voluntary
11authorization by an individual with legal capacity to give
12authorization.
13    (3) "Depicted individual" means an individual whose body is
14shown, in whole or in part, in a private sexual image.
15    (4) "Dissemination" or "disseminate" means publication or
16distribution to another person with intent to disclose.

 

 

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1    (5) "Harm" means physical harm, economic harm, or emotional
2distress whether or not accompanied by physical or economic
3harm.
4    (6) "Identifiable" means recognizable by a person other
5than the depicted individual:
6        (A) from a private sexual image itself; or
7        (B) from a private sexual image and identifying
8    characteristic displayed in connection with the image.
9    (7) "Identifying characteristic" means information that
10may be used to identify a depicted individual.
11    (8) "Individual" means a human being.
12    (9) "Parent" means an individual recognized as a parent
13under laws of this State.
14    (10) "Private" means:
15        (A) created or obtained under circumstances in which a
16    depicted individual had a reasonable expectation of
17    privacy; or
18        (B) made accessible through theft, bribery, extortion,
19    fraud, voyeurism, or exceeding authorized access to an
20    account, message, file, device, resource, or property.
21    (11) "Person" means an individual, business or nonprofit
22entity, public corporation, government or governmental
23subdivision, agency, or other legal entity.
24    (12) "Sexual conduct" includes:
25        (A) masturbation;
26        (B) genital sex, anal sex, oral sex, or sexual

 

 

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1    activity; or
2        (C) sexual penetration of or with an object.
3    (13) "Sexual activity" means any:
4        (A) knowing touching or fondling by the depicted
5    individual or another person, either directly or through
6    clothing, of the sex organs, anus, or breast of the
7    depicted individual or another person for the purpose of
8    sexual gratification or arousal;
9        (B) transfer or transmission of semen upon any part of
10    the clothed or unclothed body of the depicted individual,
11    for the purpose of sexual gratification or arousal of the
12    depicted individual or another person;
13        (C) act of urination within a sexual context;
14        (D) bondage, fetish, sadism, or masochism;
15        (E) sadomasochistic abuse in any sexual context; or
16        (F) animal-related sexual activity.
17    (14) "Sexual image" means a photograph, film, videotape,
18digital recording, or other similar medium that shows:
19        (A) the fully unclothed, partially unclothed, or
20    transparently clothed genitals, pubic area, anus, or
21    female post-pubescent nipple, partially or fully exposed,
22    of a depicted individual; or
23        (B) a depicted individual engaging in or being
24    subjected to sexual conduct or activity.
 
25    Section 10. Civil action.

 

 

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1    (a) Except as otherwise provided in Section 15, if a
2depicted individual is identifiable to a reasonable person and
3suffers harm from the intentional dissemination or threatened
4dissemination by a person over the age of 18 of a private
5sexual image without the depicted individual's consent, the
6depicted individual has a cause of action against the person if
7the person knew:
8        (1) the depicted individual did not consent to the
9    dissemination;
10        (2) the image was a private sexual image; and
11        (3) the depicted individual was identifiable.
12    (b) The following conduct by a depicted individual does not
13establish by itself that the individual consented to the
14nonconsensual dissemination of a private sexual image that is
15the subject of an action under this Act or that the individual
16lacked a reasonable expectation of privacy:
17        (1) consent to creation of the image; or
18        (2) previous consensual disclosure of the image.
19    (c) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to impose
20liability on an interactive computer service, as defined in 47
21U.S.C. 230(f)(2), for content provided by another person.
 
22    Section 15. Exceptions to liability.
23    (a) A person is not liable under this Act if the person
24proves that the dissemination of or a threat to disseminate a
25private sexual image was:

 

 

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1        (1) made in good faith:
2            (A) by law enforcement;
3            (B) in a legal proceeding; or
4            (C) for medical education or treatment;
5        (2) made in good faith in the reporting or
6    investigation of:
7            (A) unlawful conduct; or
8            (B) unsolicited and unwelcome conduct; or
9        (3) related to a matter of public concern.
10    (b) Subject to subsection (c), a defendant who is a parent,
11legal guardian, or individual with legal custody of a child is
12not liable under this Act for a dissemination or threatened
13dissemination of an intimate private sexual image of the child.
14    (c) If a defendant asserts an exception to liability under
15subsection (b), the exception does not apply if the plaintiff
16proves the disclosure was:
17        (1) prohibited by a law other than this Act; or
18        (2) made for the purpose of sexual arousal, sexual
19    gratification, humiliation, degradation, or monetary or
20    commercial gain.
21    (d) The dissemination of or a threat to disseminate a
22private sexual image is not a matter of public concern solely
23because the depicted individual is a public figure.
 
24    Section 20. Privacy of parties.
25    (a) In an action under this Act:

 

 

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1        (1) a plaintiff may proceed by using a pseudonym in
2    place of the true name of the plaintiff under Section 2-401
3    of the Code of Civil Procedure; and
4        (2) the court may exclude or redact from all pleadings
5    and documents filed in the action other identifying
6    characteristics of the plaintiff.
7    (b) A plaintiff to whom paragraph (2) of subsection (a)
8applies shall file with the court and serve on the defendant a
9confidential information form that includes the excluded or
10redacted plaintiff's name and other identifying
11characteristics.
12    (c) The court may make further orders as necessary to
13protect the identity and privacy of a plaintiff.
14    (d) If a plaintiff is granted privacy protections under
15this Section, a defendant may file a motion with the court to
16receive the same privacy protections. The court may deny or
17grant the motion at its discretion.
 
18    Section 25. Remedies.
19    (a) In an action under this Act, a prevailing plaintiff may
20recover:
21        (1) the greater of:
22            (A) economic and noneconomic damages proximately
23        caused by the defendant's dissemination or threatened
24        dissemination, including damages for emotional
25        distress whether or not accompanied by other damages;

 

 

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1        or
2            (B) statutory damages, not to exceed $10,000,
3        against each defendant found liable under this Act for
4        all disseminations and threatened disseminations by
5        the defendant of which the plaintiff knew or reasonably
6        should have known when filing the action or that became
7        known during the pendency of the action. In determining
8        the amount of statutory damages under this subsection,
9        consideration shall be given to the age of the parties
10        at the time of the disseminations or threatened
11        disseminations, the number of disseminations or
12        threatened disseminations made by the defendant, the
13        breadth of distribution of the image by the defendant,
14        and other exacerbating or mitigating factors;
15        (2) an amount equal to any monetary gain made by the
16    defendant from dissemination of the private sexual image;
17    and
18        (3) punitive damages.
19    (b) In an action under this Act, the court may award a
20prevailing plaintiff:
21        (1) reasonable attorney's fees and costs; and
22        (2) additional relief, including injunctive relief.
23    (c) This Act does not affect a right or remedy available
24under any other law of this State.
 
25    Section 30. Statute of limitations.

 

 

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1    (a) An action under subsection (b) of Section 10 for:
2        (1) a nonconsensual dissemination may not be brought
3    later than 2 years from the date the dissemination was
4    discovered or should have been discovered with the exercise
5    of reasonable diligence; and
6        (2) a threat to disseminate may not be brought later
7    than 4 years from the date of the threat to disseminate.
8    (b) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (c), this
9Section is subject to the tolling statutes of this State.
10    (c) In an action under subsection (a) of Section 10 by a
11depicted individual who was a minor on the date of the
12dissemination or threat to disseminate, the time specified in
13subsection (a) of this Section does not begin to run until the
14depicted individual attains the age of majority.
 
15    Section 35. Severability. If any provision of this Act or
16its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid,
17the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications
18of this Act that can be given effect without the invalid
19provision or application, and to this end, the provisions of
20this Act are severable.".