Recently announced updates to Guernsey’s Sexual Offences legislation will see the island’s laws catch up where gaps have developed as technology has moved on quickly.
The Committee for Home Affairs announced this week that it is working to develop updates to the Sexual Offences law in relation to Artificial Intelligence.
The updates will include proposals covering nine areas – seven in relation to sexual imagery, and two intending to fix gaps that have been identified since the law was introduced.
The amendments to the law will largely look to tackle the use of AI and also voyeurism and the creation of images without consent, said Home Affairs.
The committee said this move follows feedback and recommendations from Guernsey Police and the Law Officers with both bodies facing new challenges regarding both recent and historic cases relating to voyeurism and where AI technology has been used to create indecent images.
Local legislation has made these offences difficult to investigate, admitted Home Affairs.
It now says the proposed reforms will see ‘deepfake creation’, where the image is intimate, and no consent is obtained, becoming a criminal offence in Guernsey.
Creating or taking intimate images without consent will also be come an offence, alongside sharing these images.
Other new offences will include ‘cyberflashing’, requesting ‘deepfakes’, and the possession of indecent cartoons or drawings of children.
The proposed amendments to the law will also broaden the application of Risk of Sexual Harm Orders – which can be used by our courts to prevent a person causing any harm to children.
Deputy Marc Leadbeater, President of the Committee for Home Affairs, acknowledged that Guernsey is running behind England and Wales in making the scope of ROSHOs much larger – with those two countries changing their laws a decade ago.
He is adamant these legal updates will make positive changes to our laws to ensure offenders are appropriately charged and punished in the future.
“We have directed officers to start preparing a policy letter regarding amendments to the Sexual Offences legislation, to ensure it is up to date and capable of dealing with new, emerging offences,” he said.
“The advent of AI has led to many exciting developments, but it has also allowed sexual offenders to evolve the ways in which they offend, and we must ensure we stay ahead of that curve in order to protect our community.
“The Committee was concerned to learn that Guernsey Police have dealt with cases involving intimate AI images – or similar – in recent months, and so was determined to act swiftly to protect victims of this type of offending.
“We will also be taking the opportunity to enhance some other areas of the legislation, with regard to indecent images of children, and the powers the criminal justice system has in order to protect the community.”
Both Guernsey Police and the Law Officers have experienced challenges in dealing with current and historic offences, said Detective Inspector Thomas Lowe.
He agrees the time has now come to ensure the law is updated to reflect the developing technology.
“In recent months, the Criminal Investigation Department has carried out investigations where AI technology has been involved in potential offending,” he acknowledged. “While we investigated each case, it quickly became clear there were gaps in the legislation and a need for the creation of specific offences for activities like creating deepfakes.
“Deepfakes or ‘revenge porn’ type offending can be hugely damaging to victims and have serious consequences. It is abhorrent, and we will always treat it as such.
“Equally, voyeurism and taking images of people without their consent is a huge breach of people’s right to privacy. Our main goal is always to safeguard victims and ensure offenders are brought to justice, and I hope these new amendments, when passed, will allow us to do that more effectively.”