STATEHOUSE (Jan. 19, 2024) – The Indiana House of Representatives recently advanced State Rep. Sharon Negele's (R-Attica) legislation to protect innocent Hoosiers whose may fall victim to deepfake porn and "nudify" applications and websites.
Negele said advancements in technology have made it easy for bad actors to share computer-generated intimate images of someone without their consent. Currently, Indiana's revenge porn statute only criminalizes intimate images that are shared non-consensually by those who take the photos. Negele said the law doesn't account for non-consensual, AI-generated nudity and that needs to change.
"Indiana has an opportunity to help lead the way on this growing issue and hold malicious actors accountable for these types of cybercrimes, which can have devastating and long-lasting effects on a person's life," Negele said. "This kind of crime can happen to anyone, and images can be taken from anywhere online and made to look realistic. Ultimately, innocent people can become victims of sextortion schemes and harassment. That's why our laws have to keep up with this technology."
According to the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council, innocent persons are primarily victimized using deepfake or "nudify" websites or applications. A deepfake image is a face-swapped photo or video created using AI, and a nudified image is when AI is used to make a fully clothed person appear nude.
In 2019, a Deeptrace Labs' report found 14,678 deep fake videos online and 96% of those were nonconsensual pornography of women. In 2020, it was reported that more than 100,000 publicly posted images of female victims appeared on a deepfake bot found on the Telegram messenger app.
Negele said a disturbing number of cases have also been reported in schools across the country, where students digitally altered images of female classmates in compromising ways and distributed them online.
Only a handful of other states have enacted similar laws to Negele's proposal including New York, Virginia, Georgia and California.
House Bill 1047 would expand the state's definition of intimate images to include unauthorized and undisclosed images generated or altered using AI. This policy change would make creating or distributing these images a Class A misdemeanor or Level 6 felony, punishable by a prison term of up to 30 months.
Negele's bill now heads to the Indiana Senate for consideration. To learn more and follow legislative proceedings, visit iga.in.gov.
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State Rep. Sharon Negele (R-Attica) represents House District 13,
which includes all of Benton and Warren counties, and portions of
Fountain, Jasper, Montgomery, Newton, Tippecanoe and White counties.
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