Denmark's Pioneering Identity Copyright Law: A Potential Solution for Pakistan's Digital Crisis
In the legislative halls of Copenhagen, a groundbreaking shift is unfolding that could provide a powerful remedy for the digital chaos currently overwhelming Pakistan's social media environment. By early 2026, Denmark has taken the lead in amending its Copyright Act, formally classifying a citizen's physical likeness—including their face, body, voice, and unique persona—as personal intellectual property under new legal provisions. This move transfers the protection of human identity from the ambiguous realm of privacy law into the strong, enforceable framework of copyright, creating a robust legal shield for the Artificial Intelligence age. For Pakistan, a country struggling with widespread unauthorized image sharing and malicious deepfakes, this model is no longer a distant curiosity; it has become an urgent necessity.
The Shortcomings of Pakistan's Current Legal Framework
Pakistan's primary defense against digital abuse remains the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016. While PECA criminalizes violations of modesty under Section 21 and the distribution of reputation-harming information under Section 18, it operates on a reactive criminal standard. Victims must navigate the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), proving not only that their image was used without consent but also that it was done with dishonest intention as defined in Section 2(p). This burden of proof is often overwhelming. In a society where a leaked photograph can lead to social ostracization or honor-based violence, waiting for a criminal investigation to conclude is a luxury many cannot afford.
Furthermore, the Copyright Ordinance 1962 is a colonial-era relic that fails to address modern challenges. Under Section 2(d)(iv), the author of a photograph is defined as the person taking the photograph, not the subject. This legal gap leaves the human being in the picture without rights, while the person holding the camera—or the AI prompt—holds the copyright. This outdated approach leaves individuals vulnerable in the digital landscape.
The Danish Model: A Transformative Approach
The Danish strategy fundamentally changes this dynamic. By granting individuals Identity Copyright, the law reclassifies a deepfake from a mere privacy breach to an act of theft. Under the amended Danish Copyright Act of 2026, the moment a person's likeness is digitally replicated, the individual holds the original rights for life plus 50 years. This offers three critical advantages that Pakistan urgently needs.
- Consent Over Harm: It establishes consent as the primary issue; victims do not need to prove that a deepfake is indecent or defamatory to trigger a takedown, simplifying legal recourse.
- Platform Accountability: It creates stronger platform accountability. Supported by the EU Digital Services Act (DSA), this model forces platforms to respond more swiftly to infringement notices than to harassment complaints, compelling Big Tech to treat a citizen's face with the same urgency as pirated content.
- Post-Mortem Sanctity: Unlike PECA, which focuses on living victims, the Danish model protects a likeness after death, a crucial safeguard in an era where images of the deceased are often weaponized in political disinformation campaigns.
The Growing Threat of Generative AI and Deepfakes
As generative AI becomes more accessible, the pornification of the internet has emerged as a preferred tool for blackmailers. Scholarly research in the International Journal of Law Management & Humanities (Vol. 7, 2024) highlights that deepfakes are increasingly used for virtual forgery, yet current laws remain ill-equipped to handle synthetic media. The Danish model respects legitimate parody but sets a high realism threshold: if an AI-generated image is realistic enough to be confused with the actual person, it constitutes a property infringement. For a Pakistani woman whose face is superimposed onto explicit content, this provides a direct legal pathway to demand immediate erasure, bypassing the slow-moving criminal litigation process.
Addressing Criticisms and Moving Forward
Critics may argue that copyrighting a human face commodifies our existence. However, in an age where AI models are trained on our data without consent, we are already being commodified. The central question is who should hold the power: the algorithm or the individual? Pakistan should lead the South Asian discourse by amending the Copyright Ordinance 1962 to include Personality Rights. We must move beyond viewing copyright solely as a tool for authors and musicians and recognize it as the ultimate protector of the Digital Self. To safeguard our citizens from the predatory reach of AI, we must stop treating our identities as mere data points and start treating them as the sovereign property they truly are.
Ahsan A. Munir is a lawyer with an LL.B (Hons) from the University of London and an LL.M from the University of Dundee. He teaches law at Beaconhouse International College and the Lahore School of Economics.
