GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2015

H                                                                                                                                                    1

HOUSE BILL 792

Short Title:        Privacy/Protection From Revenge Postings.		(Public)
Sponsors:	Representatives Bryan, Bishop, and Faircloth (Primary Sponsors). For a complete list of Sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly Web Site.
Referred to:	Judiciary IV.

April 15, 2015

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT to protect the public from revenge posting online by making it a felony to disclose certain images in which there is a reasonable expectation of privacy.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  Article 52 of Chapter 14 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:

"§ 14‑401.26.  Disclosure of private images.

(a) Definitions. – The following definitions apply in this section:

(1) Disclose. – Transferring, publishing, distributing, or reproducing.

(2) Image. – A photograph, film, videotape, recording, digital, or other reproduction.

(3) Intimate parts. – The naked genitals, pubic area, anus, or female adult nipple of the person.

(4) Reasonable expectation of privacy. – When a person has consented to the disclosure of an image within the context of a confidential relationship and the person reasonably believes that the disclosures will not go beyond that relationship.

(5) Sexual act. – Includes, but is not limited to, masturbation, genital, anal, or oral sex.

(b) A person is guilty of a Class H felony if the person knowingly discloses an image of another identifiable person whose intimate parts are exposed or who is engaged in a sexual act, when the person knows or should have known that the depicted person has not consented to such disclosure and under circumstances such that the person knew or should have known that the depicted person had a reasonable expectation of privacy.

(c) Exceptions. – This section does not apply to any of the following:

(1) Images involving voluntary exposure in public or commercial settings.

(2) Disclosures made in the public interest, including, but not limited to, the reporting of unlawful conduct or the lawful and common practices of law enforcement, criminal reporting, legal proceedings, or medical treatment.

(d) In addition to any other remedies at law or in equity, any person whose image is disclosed, or used, as described in subsection (b) of this section, has a civil cause of action against any person who discloses or uses the image and is entitled to recover from the other person:

(1) Actual damages, but not less than liquidated damages, to be computed at the rate of one thousand dollars ($1,000) per day for each day of the violation or in the amount of ten thousand dollars ($10,000), whichever is higher;

(2) Punitive damages; and

(3) A reasonable attorneys' fee and other litigation costs reasonably incurred.

The civil cause of action may be brought no more than four years after the last disclosure as described in this section."

SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective December 1, 2015.