Spying and Private Images
Ala. Code § 13A-6-240 — sharing an intimate image without written consent, and spying while trespassing
Criminal surveillance is secretly watching someone to spy on and invade their privacy while trespassing in a private place. It is a Class B misdemeanor.
Who handles this in Alabama: Alabama State Bar Lawyer Referral Service; and legal aid programs and the state offices, listed in the Alabama directory.
- Distributing a private image is knowingly posting, sending or otherwise sharing a sexually explicit recording of an identifiable person who did not consent in writing and expected it to stay private.
- Creating a private image is knowingly making, recording or altering one without the person's consent when they expected privacy.
- A private image includes one edited or manipulated, and one a reasonable person would believe shows an identifiable person even if partly artificial.
Sharing in the public interest, such as reporting unlawful conduct, ordinary law enforcement, legal or medical use, or a real attempt to stop further sharing, is a defense.
Sexual extortion. Threatening to injure someone's body, property or reputation to get sexual conduct or an explicit recording, or threatening to release one to force someone to act, is sexual extortion, a Class B felony.
Sources for this section (4)
- Ala. Code § 13A-11-32 — Criminal Surveillance
- Ala. Code § 13A-6-240 — Distributing a Private Image; Creating a Private Image
- Ala. Code § 13A-6-241 — Sexual Extortion
- Ala. Code § 13A-11-30 — Definitions
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Alabama attorney.