“To authorize a civil right of action for individuals affected by video voyeurism, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section establishes the short title of the Act as the “Sue Victimizers and Offenders who Yield Explicit Unconsented Recordings Surreptitiously Act” or the “Sue VOYEURS Act.”
This section establishes a federal civil cause of action for the nonconsensual capture of intimate visual depictions in circumstances involving interstate commerce or other federal jurisdictional hooks. As background, the provision creates a private right of action in U.S. district court for an individual whose intimate visual depiction is captured without consent, with knowledge or reckless disregard of the lack of consent and under circumstances in which the individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy. The section authorizes a plaintiff to recover actual damages or liquidated damages of $150,000 for each intimate visual depiction captured, plus the costs of the action, reasonable attorney’s fees, and other reasonably incurred litigation costs. It also authorizes equitable relief, including a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, or permanent injunction requiring the defendant to stop displaying or disclosing the depiction, and permits the court to preserve the plaintiff’s anonymity by allowing use of a pseudonym. The section bars actions based on the conduct of a law enforcement officer or agency conducting surveillance pursuant to a lawfully issued warrant. It defines key terms, including “broadcast,” “capture,” “consent,” “intimate visual depiction,” “private area,” and “sexually explicit conduct,” and specifies that the covered conduct must involve interstate or foreign commerce, the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, or otherwise affect interstate or foreign commerce.