(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) The anti-deep fake porn bill, which official title is the Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits (DEFIANCE) Act, passed the U.S. Senate unanimously on July 25, 2024, with 100 votes.
Breitbart reported that the bill introduced by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., would allow victims of deep fake pornography to “sue anyone who knowingly creates, receives or distributes non-consensual, sexually explicit content made with artificial intelligence.” Victims will have a 10-year statute of limitations.
According to the news source, “The bill is one of the first to address the damages caused by AI, which is currently a self-regulated industry. It doesn’t allow for criminal prosecution, but hopefully, it’s a first step towards more federal oversight.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who also sponsored the bill, said she pushed it after becoming a victim of deep fake porn online.
“Today marks an important step in the fight to protect survivors of nonconsensual deep fake pornography. Over 90% of all deepfake videos made are nonconsensual sexually explicit images, and women are the targets 9 times out of 10,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement on July 25, 2024.
She then wrote that the act would allow the victims to defend themselves legally against pornographers who are using their identities without consent.
“The DEFIANCE Act would guarantee federal protections for survivors of nonconsensual deep fake pornography for the first time, granting the right to take civil action against individuals who knowingly produce, distribute, or receive nonconsensual sexually explicit digital forgeries,” she wrote.
Actress Scarlett Johansson, another victim of the deep fake porn, admitted in a 2019 interview that the technology would be difficult, if not impossible, not regulate.
“I think it’s a useless pursuit, legally, mostly because the internet is a vast wormhole of darkness that eats itself. There are far more disturbing things on the dark web than this, sadly. I think it’s up to an individual to fight for their own right to their image, claim damages, etc.,” she said.
Johansson also talked about how deep fake porn would affect regular women who are not multimillionaire actresses like her to protect their image.
“It’s a fruitless pursuit for me but a different situation than someone who loses a job over their image being used like that,” she said.
