| 12 | 13 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1 |
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| 13 | 14 | | AN ACT CREATING THE DIGITAL CONTENT PROVENANCE INITIATIVE AND 2 |
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| 14 | 15 | | APPROPRIATING FUNDS FOR THAT PURPOSE . 3 |
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| 15 | 16 | | The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 4 |
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| 16 | 17 | | SECTION 1.(a) The following definitions apply to this act: 5 |
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| 17 | 18 | | (1) Synthetic media. – Content that has been partially or fully generated, altered, 6 |
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| 18 | 19 | | or manipulated by artificial intelligence or machine learning technologies, 7 |
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| 19 | 20 | | including but not limited to video, audio, text, and images. 8 |
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| 20 | 21 | | (2) Provenance. – Verifiable information about the origin, creation, and 9 |
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| 21 | 22 | | modification history of a piece of digital content, including any 10 |
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| 22 | 23 | | transformations applied. 11 |
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| 23 | 24 | | (3) Cryptographic authentication. –The use of secure digital methods, such as 12 |
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| 24 | 25 | | watermarking or signatures, to confirm the origin and integrity of content. 13 |
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| 25 | 26 | | (4) State-generated content. – Any official communication, media, or digital file 14 |
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| 26 | 27 | | created or disseminated by a State agency, department, or official in the course 15 |
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| 27 | 28 | | of their duties. 16 |
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| 28 | 29 | | (5) False attribution. – Digital content that inaccurately represents itself as 17 |
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| 29 | 30 | | originating from a government official or agency. 18 |
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| 30 | 31 | | SECTION 1.(b) There is established the Digital Content Provenance Initiative 19 |
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| 31 | 32 | | (Initiative). The Initiative shall be implemented in phases. 20 |
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| 32 | 33 | | SECTION 1.(c) Phase I shall be coordinated jointly by the Department of Commerce 21 |
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| 33 | 34 | | and the Department of Information Technology to protect North Carolina residents from the 22 |
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| 34 | 35 | | growing threats posed by synthetic media and AI-generated content. This initiative shall develop 23 |
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| 35 | 36 | | and implement cryptographic authentication standards for digital content across State platforms, 24 |
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| 36 | 37 | | official communications, and election-related public information, to mitigate digital 25 |
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| 37 | 38 | | misinformation that poses an escalating threat to consumers, the public trust, election integrity, 26 |
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| 38 | 39 | | and information authenticity. The initiative shall also study methods to detect and deter false 27 |
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| 39 | 40 | | attribution of synthetic media to public officials, election authorities, or government agencies. 28 |
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| 40 | 41 | | Where feasible, the Initiative will lead the State's effort to adopt or align with existing 29 |
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| 41 | 42 | | open technical standards for content provenance and authenticity, including but not limited to the 30 |
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| 42 | 43 | | standards developed by the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), the 31 |
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| 43 | 44 | | World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), and other relevant multistakeholder or international 32 |
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| 44 | 45 | | organizations. The Initiative may pilot implementations of C2PA-compliant metadata, 33 |
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| 45 | 46 | | watermarking, or signature protocols in collaboration with industry partners. 34 |
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| 46 | 47 | | SECTION 1.(d) To ensure transparency and accountability, the Initiative shall 35 |
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| 49 | 54 | | from civil liberties organizations, academic institutions, media organizations, cybersecurity 1 |
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| 50 | 55 | | experts, and the technology industry. The Board shall advise on technical standards, privacy 2 |
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| 51 | 56 | | safeguards, civil liberties impacts, and implementation strategies. The Initiative shall also publish 3 |
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| 52 | 57 | | quarterly progress updates and a public comment portal. 4 |
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| 53 | 58 | | SECTION 2.(a) Effective July 1, 2025, there is appropriated from the General Fund 5 |
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| 54 | 59 | | to the Department of Commerce the sum of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) for the 6 |
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| 55 | 60 | | 2025-2026 fiscal year to carry out the purposes of Phase I, including the development of 7 |
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| 56 | 61 | | comprehensive content authentication framework for North Carolina's digital communications 8 |
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| 57 | 62 | | infrastructure that: 9 |
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| 58 | 63 | | (1) Implements cryptographic verification protocols for all state-generated media. 10 |
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| 59 | 64 | | (2) Creates a secure content provenance registry for official State 11 |
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| 60 | 65 | | communications. 12 |
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| 61 | 66 | | (3) Develops public education resources on identifying potential synthetic 13 |
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| 62 | 67 | | content. 14 |
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| 63 | 68 | | (4) Partners with technology companies to integrate provenance standards. 15 |
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| 64 | 69 | | SECTION 2.(b) These funds may be used to engage consultants, develop technical 16 |
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| 65 | 70 | | infrastructure, increase staff expertise, conduct public education campaign, and to support 17 |
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| 66 | 71 | | ongoing threat assessment. 18 |
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| 67 | 72 | | SECTION 3. By December 1, 2025, the Department of Commerce and the 19 |
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| 68 | 73 | | Department of Information Technology shall submit an interim Phase I report to the General 20 |
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| 69 | 74 | | Assembly and publish it on a public website. This report shall include a summary of technical 21 |
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| 70 | 75 | | progress, public input received, initial recommendations for election-year implementation, and 22 |
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| 71 | 76 | | early indicators of public risk. A final Phase I report, with recommendations for Phase II, shall 23 |
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| 72 | 77 | | be submitted by March 1, 2026. 24 |
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| 73 | 78 | | SECTION 4. Except as otherwise provided, this act is effective when it becomes 25 |
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| 74 | 79 | | law. 26 |
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