Immunity of Broadcasters From Liability for Levi's Call: Georgia's Amber Alert Program

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  5. Immunity of Broadcasters From Liability for Levi's Call: Georgia's Amber Alert Program

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  1. As used in this Code section, the term:
    1. "Broadcast" means the transmission of video or audio programming by an electronic or other signal conducted by radiowaves or microwaves, by wires, lines, coaxial cables, wave guides or fiber optics, by satellite transmissions directly or indirectly to viewers or listeners, or by any other means of communication.
    2. "Broadcaster" means any corporation or other entity that is engaged in the business of broadcasting video or audio programming, whether through the public airwaves, by cable, by direct or indirect satellite transmission, or by any other means of communication.
    3. "Levi's Call: Georgia's Amber Alert Program" means the voluntary program entered into by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency, the Georgia Association of Broadcasters, and certain broadcasters licensed to serve in the State of Georgia, which program provides that if the Georgia Bureau of Investigation verifies that a child has been abducted and is in danger, an alert containing known details of the abduction is transmitted to the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency, which is then transmitted by the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency to broadcasters in Georgia; and those broadcasters participating in the program then broadcast or otherwise disseminate the alert to listeners, viewers, or subscribers.
  2. Any broadcaster participating in Levi's Call: Georgia's Amber Alert Program shall not be liable for any civil damages arising from the broadcast or other dissemination of any alert generated pursuant to the Levi's Call: Georgia's Amber Alert Program. The immunity provided for in this Code section shall apply to any broadcast or dissemination of information that is substantially consistent with the information transmitted by the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency and that takes place during an alert requested by the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency and for a period of two hours after such alert has ended or the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency informs the participating broadcasters that the alert has changed in content.
  3. Nothing in this Code section shall be construed to limit or restrict in any way any legal protection a broadcaster may have under any other law for broadcasting or otherwise disseminating any information.

(Code 1981, §51-1-50, enacted by Ga. L. 2004, p. 56, § 1; Ga. L. 2005, p. 60, § 51/HB 95; Ga. L. 2016, p. 91, § 23/SB 416.)

The 2016 amendment, effective July 1, 2016, inserted "and Homeland Security" following "Georgia Emergency Management" throughtout this Code section.

Cross references.

- Kidnapping, § 16-5-40.

Interference with custody, § 16-5-45.

Code Commission notes.

- Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2004, "Georgia," was substituted for "Georgia;" and "the" was inserted preceding "Georgia Emergency Management Agency" in two places in paragraph (a)(3).

Law reviews.

- For annual survey of law of torts, see 56 Mercer L. Rev. 415 (2004). For annual survey of law of torts, see 56 Mercer L. Rev. 433 (2004).


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