The president of the United States, Donald Trump, promulgated on Monday, May 19, a law that criminalizes the exchange without the consent of real pornographic images or created by artificial intelligence, especially for revenge purposes (“revenge porn”), a growing phenomenon.
This text called “Take Down Law”, supported by the first lady Melania Trump, was previously adopted by the American Senate and the House of Representatives, where he had compiled great support from the two parties.
“The first Federal Law”
“Anyone who will intentionally transmit explicit images without the consent of a person will incur up to three years in prison,” he said, also evoking “civil responsibilities” for social networks and websites that house these images but “they refuse to eliminate these images quickly,” that is, within 48 hours.
The countless dissemination of sexual images, sometimes created thanks to the help of artificial intelligence (AI) is a phenomenon that mainly affects young girls and women, some celebrities such as singer Taylor Swift or the democratic chosen Alexandria Ocasio -cortez.
With the popularization of AI tools, the manufacture of these photo assemblies or hyperrealist videos has simplified and paved the way for mass use for harassment or humiliation, taking courses from around the world.
A “Legal Weapon”
“This legislation constitutes a decisive step in our efforts to ensure that every young Americans, in particular, can feel better protected against attacks on their image or their identity through uncalled images,” he welcomed Melania Trump with her husband, during a rare public appearance.
The first lady, mobilized in this file, was invited to the occasion to the White House of the young victims of such practices. Among them, a Tewing teenager who had discovered hyperrealist (defags) of his sexual assemblies at the end of 2023 of his comrades, made without his consent by a student from his university and then shared on the Snapchat network.
“This could affect them all their lives,” he warned, pointing out the impotence of the victims to act and defend their rights. “Now I have a legal weapon at my disposal (to defend my daughter),” he rejoiced on Monday, May 19 with the man of AFP Dorota, mother of another young victim, welcoming the “very powerful” legislation.
“Censorship” risk
Only a few US states, including California and Florida, have so far had laws that criminalize the manufacture and publication of false sexual images. Therefore, this federal law represents a “significant” not in the fight against this phenomenon, he believes with the AFP Renée Cummings, criminologist and researcher in artificial intelligence at the University of Virginia.
And to prevent: “We must ensure that legislative measures protect society and punish the authors, without inadvertently eroding encryption or quell legitimate expression” on the Internet.
A risk indicated by several associations for the defense of public freedoms, which were concerned about a risk of censorship. “If the protection of victims against these hateful invasions of intimacy is a legitimate objective, good intentions are alone are not enough to make a good law,” said the Electronic Border Foundation, which denounces “vague definitions and the lack of safeguards” that could lead to censorship.
Source: BFM TV
