Donnelly proposes new legislation following Seaford man's sentencing for 'deepfake' porn

Patrick Carey probably thought he could get away with posting fake pornographic images of women he knew online, since there are no laws specifically addressing "deepfake" images.

As it turns out, the 22-year-old Seaford man — who  was sentenced for the crime this past week — almost did get away with it. At least according to Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly.

"Creating a fake image, even if it is sexually explicit, is not a criminal offense in New York state," Donnelly said. "It's a loophole that allows child pornographers to use new technology to circumvent the existing laws and evade prosecutions."

What got Carey sentenced to six months behind bars and a decade of probation with sex offender conditions, Donnelly said, was that one of the images he posted included a sexually explicit image of an underage girl. 

But Donnelly wants to prevent another Patrick Carey from committing these kinds of crimes, and has introduced the Digital Manipulation Protection Act. This law would ensure that creating deepfake images of real people in this manner is illegal, no matter how old the victims are. 

"New York state currently lacks the adequate criminal statutes to protect victims of 'deepfake' pornography, both adults and children," Donnelly said. "That is why I am proposing the legislature take up the Digital Manipulation Protection Act, that would close the loopholes in the law that allow sexual predators and child pornographers to create sexually explicit digitally manipulated images and evade prosecution.

"We cannot protect New Yorkers without making these changes."