N.Y. Civil Rights Law § 52-d: Private right of action for unlawful dissemination or publication of a personal image

§ 52-d. Private right of action for unlawful dissemination or

publication of a personal image. 1. Any crime victim depicted in a still

or video image which was unlawfully disseminated as provided in section

250.71 of the penal law shall have a cause of action against such

individual who disseminated or published such still or video image

without the consent of the person depicted in the image in violation of

section 250.71 of the penal law.

2. In any action commenced pursuant to subdivision one of this

section, the finder of fact, in its discretion, may award injunctive

relief, punitive damages, compensatory damages and reasonable court

costs and attorneys' fees.

3. This section shall not apply to the following:

a. the reporting of suspected unlawful conduct to law enforcement;

b. the dissemination or publication of an image made in the course of

official law enforcement duties, legal proceedings or criminal

prosecution, or medical treatment; or

c. the dissemination or publication of an image made for a legitimate

public discourse concerning local, national, or worldwide events or

other matters of public concern or public interest or affecting the

public welfare; any work of public interest, educational or newsworthy

value, including comment, criticism, parody or satire, and works of

entertainment, regardless of the degree of fictionalization; or an

advertisement or commercial announcement for any of the foregoing works.

4. Any such crime victim depicted in a still or video image which was

unlawfully disseminated as provided in section 250.71 of the penal law,

or such person's estate, may maintain an action or special proceeding

for a court order to require any social media platform that is subject

to personal jurisdiction under subdivision five of this section to

permanently remove such still or video image; any such court order

granted pursuant to this subdivision may direct removal only as to

images that are reasonably within such social media platform's control.

5. A cause of action or special proceeding under this section shall be

commenced the later of either:

a. three years after the dissemination or publication of such image;

or

b. one year from the date the plaintiff or petitioners discovered, or

reasonably should have discovered, such dissemination or publication of

such image.

6. Nothing in this section shall be read to require a prior criminal

complaint, prosecution or conviction to establish the elements of the

cause of action provided for by this section.

7. The provisions of this section are in addition to, but shall not

supersede, any other rights or remedies available in law or equity.

8. If any provision of this section or its application to any person

or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect other

provisions or applications of this section which can be given effect

without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the

provisions of this section are severable.

9. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit, or to enlarge,

the protections that 47 U.S.C. § 230 confers on an interactive computer

service for content provided by another information content provider, as

such terms are defined in 47 U.S.C. § 230.