"Xiaoyu" Zhu Yuchen (pictured) used deepfake technology to transplant the faces of politicians, entertainers, and Internet celebrities onto the faces of pornographic heroines, and sold them for profit. talk.

(file photo)

Deepfake face-changing, coercion, production of false images, dissemination of profits, the most critical 10 and a half years

[Reporters Chen Zhengyu, Wu Zhengfeng/Taipei Report] The Legislative Yuan passed the third reading yesterday to add Chapter 28-1 of the Criminal Law "Crime of Interfering with Sexual Privacy and False Videos". , Comprehensive protection for vulnerable groups.

The legislation hit the road three days after the president announced it.

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The newly added special chapter classifies crimes in a hierarchical manner according to motivation and purpose, ranging from stealing, rape recording, dissemination to profit-making, and the maximum punishment ranges from three years to ten and a half years after aggravation.

As for the definition of sexual images, the provisions of the regulations include sexual organs or private parts of the body that are objectively sufficient to arouse sexual desire or shame, or images or electromagnetic records that are objectively sufficient to arouse sexual desire or shameful behaviors by touching the above-mentioned parts with the body or objects.

In terms of penalties, the article stipulates that those who record sexual images by photography, video, electromagnetic recording or other technological methods without reason shall be sentenced to a fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years; if they are distributed, they shall be sentenced to a fixed-term imprisonment of not less than six months but not more than five years; The penalty is one-half.

In addition, if sexual images are recorded against the person's will by means of rape, coercion, etc., the maximum sentence is five years of fixed-term imprisonment; if they are disseminated, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of more than one year and less than seven years; if they are disseminated with the intention of profit, the punishment shall be increased to one-half .

Anyone who reproduces, distributes, broadcasts, delivers, publicly exhibits, or otherwise allows people to view sexual images without the consent of others shall be sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison and may also be fined up to 500,000 yuan.

For false images, the provisions are added for people to watch, and those who use computer synthesis or other technological methods to create false images of others and cause damage to others shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years, criminal detention or a fine of not more than 500,000 yuan A fine; if the intention is to make a profit, the sentence shall be imprisonment for not more than seven years, and a fine of not more than 700,000 yuan may be imposed.

The Ministry of Justice pointed out that the use of computer synthesis and other technologies (such as Deepfake) to produce false images seriously infringes on the privacy and personality rights of others; crimes related to sexual privacy or online gender violence are even more indelible to victims. The punishment regulations are not enough to fully evaluate the criminal nature of the perpetrator and the actual harm of the behavior. Therefore, the revision of the law demonstrates the government's determination to crack down on invasive privacy crimes and keeps its promise to protect the public's privacy through special chapters on protection and aggravated crimes.