Image-Based Sexual Abuse (IBSA) involves complex and continually evolving subject matter expertise. CCRI regularly offers expert advice to lawmakers, attorneys general, task forces, and legal commissions on these issues. Samples of CCRI’s contributions and technical assistance are shared below.

Model Laws

In 2013, CCRI President and Legislative & Tech Policy Director Dr. Mary Anne Franks drafted groundbreaking model legislation on nonconsensual distribution of intimate images (NDII) dissemination, which has served as the template for multiple state laws and for pending federal legislation on the issue.

Dr. Franks has since advised lawmakers on legislation related to (NDII) and sextortion in over 30 states and Washington, D.C.  CCRI’s efforts have helped bring the number of U.S. jurisdictions prohibiting this abuse from three states to 49 states, Washington, D.C, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

Dr. Franks worked closely with Congress to draft a federal bill against NDII called the Stopping Harmful Image Exploitation and Limiting Distribution Act (the “SHIELD Act”), the first federal criminal law introduced in Congress to prohibit NDII dissemination.

Dr. Franks also served as the Reporter for the Uniform Law Commission’s Civil Remedies for the Unauthorized Disclosure of Intimate Imagery Act of 2018, a version of which was included in the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2022 as the first federal law to provide a civil remedy for NDII dissemination.

Amicus Briefs

CCRI files amicus briefs in support of state laws protecting online privacy and on other matters related to technology-facilitated harms. Our briefs, along with the scholarship of CCRI leadership, are frequently cited by courts.  

Other Technical Assistance

• CCRI leadership served as expert advisors to the White House Task Force to Address Online Harassment and Abuse.
• CCRI Vice-President Professor Danielle Keats Citron testified at the House Intelligence Committee Hearing on national security challenges of artificial intelligence (AI), manipulated media, and “deepfake” technology.
• CCRI submitted comments and recommendations to the FTC in collaboration with Without My Consent to advance the protection of consumers and the public against “revenge porn” website operator Craig Brittain.
• CCRI leadership served on California’s Cyber Exploitation Task Force.
• CCRI board members participated in the Uniform Law Commission Study Committee on Revenge Porn.

Research for CCRI amicus briefs and the roster of state laws were supported by a generous contribution from the Craig Newmark Philanthropies.