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Montana bill would add 'digitally fabricated' images to privacy and extortion statutes
Summary
Rep. Jill Konower told the Senate Judiciary Committee HB 514 would broaden privacy and communications offenses to criminalize publishing or threatening to disclose real or digitally fabricated images when intended to intimidate, extort or harass; proponents cited sextortion and teen suicides, defenders urged coordination with Attorney General definitions.
Representative Jill Konower opened a hearing on House Bill 514, telling the Senate Judiciary Committee the measure would expand Montana’s privacy-and-communications offenses to cover publishing or threatening to disclose real or digitally fabricated images “with the purpose to terrify, intimidate, threaten, harass, or injure, or to obtain money, or other valuable considerations.”
Konower said the change aims to modernize statutes to address sextortion and digitally fabricated media affecting school-aged children. “Basically, we want to make sure that we're not allowing people to get away with this in our statutes,”…
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