Legislation Protects Dead People’s ID

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is taking steps to help dead people hang onto their identity even in the afterlife.

The Governor has signed legislation that establishes a “Right to Publicity” for the dearly departed.

The measure protects against the commercial exploitation or unauthorized used of a person’s unique characteristics, including name, picture, voice or signature after their death.

The rights can be exercised by their descendants giving the estates of performers the ability to control and protect their likeness after they have died.

For the living, the measure also creates new penalties for publishing sexually explicit depictions of individuals of for publicizing images of people placed in digitally-created fake events.