N.Y. CVR Law § 52-B — New York Code / Act CVR / Article 5 / Section 52-B
Private right of action for unlawful dissemination or publication of an intimate image
Status: in_force

§ 52-b. Private right of action for unlawful dissemination or\npublication of an intimate image. 1.  Any person depicted in a still or\nvideo image, including an image created or altered by digitization,\nregardless of whether or not the original still or video image was\nconsensually obtained, shall have a cause of action against an\nindividual who, for the purpose of harassing, annoying or alarming such\nperson, disseminated or published, or threatened to disseminate or\npublish, such still or video image, where such image:\n  a. was taken when such person had a reasonable expectation that the\nimage would remain private; and\n  b. depicts (i) an unclothed or exposed intimate part of such person;\nor (ii) such person engaging in sexual conduct, as defined in\nsubdivision ten of section 130.00 of the penal law, with another person;\nand\n  c. was disseminated or published, or threatened to be disseminated or\npublished, without the consent of such person.\n  2. In any action commenced pursuant to subdivision one of this\nsection, the finder of fact, in its discretion, may award injunctive\nrelief, punitive damages, compensatory damages and reasonable court\ncosts and attorney's fees.\n  3. This section shall not apply to the following:\n  a. the reporting of unlawful conduct;\n  b. dissemination or publication of an intimate still or video image\nmade during lawful and common practices of law enforcement, legal\nproceedings or medical treatment;\n  c. images involving voluntary exposure in a public or commercial\nsetting; or\n  d. dissemination or publication of an intimate still or video image\nmade for a legitimate public purpose.\n  4. Any person depicted in a still or video image, including an image\ncreated or altered by digitization, that depicts an unclothed or exposed\nintimate part of such person, or such person engaging in sexual conduct\nas defined in subdivision ten of section 130.00 of the penal law with\nanother person, which is disseminated or published without the consent\nof such person and where such person had a reasonable expectation that\nthe image would remain private, may maintain an action or special\nproceeding for a court order to require any website that is subject to\npersonal jurisdiction under subdivision five of this section to\npermanently remove such still or video image; any such court order\ngranted pursuant to this subdivision may direct removal only as to\nimages that are reasonably within such website's control.\n  5. a. Any website that hosts or transmits a still or video image,\nincluding an image created or altered by digitization, viewable in this\nstate, taken under circumstances where the person depicted had a\nreasonable expectation that the image would remain private, which\ndepicts:\n  (i) an unclothed or exposed intimate part, as defined in section\n245.15 of the penal law, of a resident of this state; or\n  (ii) a resident of this state engaging in sexual conduct as defined in\nsubdivision ten of section 130.00 of the penal law with another person;\nand\n  b. Such still or video image is hosted or transmitted without the\nconsent of such resident of this state, shall be subject to personal\njurisdiction in a civil action in this state to the maximum extent\npermitted under the United States constitution and federal law.\n  6. A cause of action or special proceeding under this section shall be\ncommenced the later of either:\n  a. three years after the dissemination or publication of an image; or\n  b. one year from the date a person discovers, or reasonably should\nhave discovered, the dissemination or publication of such image.\n  7. Nothing herein shall be read to require a prior criminal complaint,\nprosecution or conviction to establish the elements of the cause of\naction provided for by this section.\n  8. The provisions of this section are in addition to, but shall not\nsupersede, any other rights or remedies available in law or equity.\n  9. If any provision of this section or its application to any person\nor circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect other\nprovisions or applications of this section which can be given effect\nwithout the invalid provision or application, and to this end the\nprovisions of this section are severable.\n  10. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit, or to\nenlarge, the protections that 47 U.S.C § 230 confers on an interactive\ncomputer service for content provided by another information content\nprovider, as such terms are defined in 47 U.S.C. § 230.\n  11. For purposes of this section, "digitization" means the use of\nsoftware, machine learning, artificial intelligence, or any other\ncomputer-generated or technological means, including adapting,\nmodifying, manipulating, or altering a realistic depiction.\n