Review RAINN's references, case law, and resources from the 2025 Crime Victim Law Conference:

 

AI Image-Based Sexual Abuse and Harassment: Legal Protections & Solutions

 

• Stefan Turkheimer, VP of Public Policy
• Sandi Johnson, Senior Legislative Policy Counsel

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References

 

1. 2023 State of Deepfakes: Realities, Threats, and Impact. Security Hero. https://www.securityhero.io/state-of-deepfakes/

 

2. Deepfake Nudes & Young People: Navigating a New Frontier in Technology-facilitated Nonconsensual Sexual Abuse and Exploitation. Thorn. https://www.thorn.org/research/library/deepfake-nudes-and-young-people/

 

3. Generative AI (GAI) National Center for Missing & Exploited Children https://www.missingkids.org/theissues/generative-ai

 

4. Harmful “Nudify” Websites Used Google, Apple, and Discord Sign-On Systems. WIRED. Matt Burgess August 29, 2024 https://www.wired.com/story/undress-app-ai-harm-google-apple-login/

 

5. An AI Image Generator’s Exposed Database Reveals What People Really Used It For. WIRED. Matt Burgess March 31, 2025 https://www.wired.com/story/genomis-ai-image-database-exposed/

 

6. Tracker: State Legislation on Intimate Deepfakes. PublicCitizen. https://www.citizen.org/article/tracker-intimate-deepfakes-state-legislation/

 

7. Deep Learning vs Machine Learning - What’s The Difference? Arne Wolfewicz. LEVITY September 30, 2024. https://levity.ai/blog/difference-machine-learning-deep-learning

 

8. How AI is being abused to create child sexual abuse imagery. Internet Watch Foundation. https://www.iwf.org.uk/media/q4zll2ya/iwf-ai-csam-report_public-oct23v1.pdf

 

9. Federal Sentencing of Child Pornography Non-Production Offenses. United States Sentencing Commission, June 2021. https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/research-and-publications/research-publications/2021/20210629_Non-Production-CP.pdf

 

10. What has changed in the AI CSAM landscape? Internet Watch Foundation. July 2024. https://www.iwf.org.uk/media/nadlcb1z/iwf-ai-csam-report_update-public-jul24v13.pdf

 

11. Deepfakes and Harm to Women. Jennifer Laffier, Aalyia Rehman. Journal of Digital LIfe and Learning, 2023, Vol. 3, No. 1, 1-21. DOI 10.51357/jdll.v3i1.218

 

12. Criminalizing Revenge Porn. Danielle Keats Citron & Mary Anne Franks, 2014 https://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2424&context=fac_pubs

 

13. Online or Digital Sexual Harassment under the 2020 Title IX Regulations: A Resource for Students, Families, and Educators. US Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights January 2025  https://www.ed.gov/media/document/digital-sexual-harassment-under-2020-title-ix-regulations-109318.pdf

 

14. "Revenge Porn and the First Amendment: Should Nonconsensual Distribution of Sexually Explicit Images Receive Constitutional Protection?," Ribot, Evan (2019). University of Chicago Legal Forum: Vol. 2019 , Article 15. Available at: https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf/vol2019/iss1/15

 

15. An Update on the Legal Landscape of Revenge Porn November 16, 2021 Criminal Law. National Association of Attorneys General. Chance Carter.

 

16. People v. Sol Ecom, Incl, etc. Complaint for Injunctive Relief and Civil Penalties. David Chiu, San Francisco City Attorney. https://www.sfcityattorney.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Complaint_Final_Redacted.pdf

 

17. RAINN Memo on Nonconsensual Manipulated Intimate Material. https://rainn.org/policy/memos

Case Law

 

1. The Intercept Media, Inc. v OpenAI, Inc., 2025 WL 556019, description of AI models

R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul, 505 U.S. 377, 112 S.Ct. 2538 (1992), constitutionally proscribable content

 

2. U.S. v. Alvarez, 567 U.S. 709, 132 S.Ct. 2537 (2012), constitutionally proscribable content does not include false statements.

 

3. Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 93 S.Ct. 2607 (1973), Obscenity defined 

Roth v. U.S., 354 U.S. 476, 77 S.Ct. 1304 (1957), Obscenity

 

4. Mishkin v. State of N.Y., 383 U.S. 502, 86 S.Ct. 958 (1966), Obscenity

Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U.S. 557, 89 S.Ct. 1243 (1969), cannot prohibit private possession of obscene content

 

5. U.S. v. Orito, 413 U.S. 139, 93 S.Ct. 2674 (1973), Obscenity can be prohibited once it is outside the home

 

6. Osborne v. Ohio, 495 U.S. 103, 110 S.Ct. 1691 (1990), possession and viewing child sexual abuse material can be prohibited, even inside the home; innocuous depictions of nudity do not qualify

 

7. New York v Ferber, 458 U.S. 747, 102 S.Ct. 3348 (1982), child sexual abuse material

Ashcroft v Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234, 122 S.Ct. 1389 (2002), generated child sexual abuse material

 

8. U.S. v. Williams, 553 U.S. 285, 128 S.Ct. 1830 (2008), upholding solicitation of CSAM

United States v Mecham, 950 F.3d 257 (5th Cir.2020), morphed images upheld

 

9. Doe v. Boland, 698 F.3d 877 (6th Cir. 2012), upholding cause of action for morphed CSAM images

 

10. United States v. Hotaling, 634 F.3d 725 (2d Cir. 2011), morphed CSAM prohibited

 State v. Zidel, 940 A.2d 255 (NH Supreme Court 2008), morphed images not CSAM

 

11. United States v. Anderson, 759 F.3d 891 (8th Cir. 2014), morphed images not CSAM

Brasse v. State, 2025 WL 926415 (MD Ct.App.2025) Generated images prohibited if indistinguishable from actual and identifiable child

 

12. Snyder v. Phelps, 562 U.S. 443, 452, 131 S. Ct. 1207, 1215–16, 179 L. Ed. 2d 172 (2011), matters of private significance have less rigorous First Amendment protections

City of San Diego, Cal. v. Roe, 543 U.S. 77, 125 S. Ct. 521, 160 L. Ed. 2d 410 (2004), matters of private concern

 

13. People v. Bollaert, 248 Cal. App. 4th 699, 203 Cal. Rptr. 3d 814 (2016), website creator prosecuted

 

14. Michaels v. Internet Entertainment Group, Inc., 5 F.Supp.2d 823 (C.D.California 1998), tort action for publication of private images

 

15. Jones v. Dirty World Ent. Recordings LLC, 755 F.3d 398 (6th Cir. 2014), definition of creator under 47 USC 230

 

16. People v. Bollaert, 248 Cal. App. 4th 699, 203 Cal. Rptr. 3d 814 (2016), no protection under 47 USC 230 for website creator

Resources

 

1. NCMEC Take It Down https://takeitdown.ncmec.org/

 

2. NCMEC CyberTipline https://report.cybertip.org/

 

3. StopNCII.org https://stopncii.org/

 

4. Platform Removal Resource https://www.missingkids.org/gethelpnow/isyourexplicitcontentoutthere

 

5. Cyber Civil Rights Initiative https://cybercivilrights.org/ccri-safety-center/#online-removal