John Hopton for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
Posting revenge porn will become a specifically recognized crime in England and Wales, with the rest of the United Kingdom considering similar changes to the law. In recent years the issue of revenge porn has been taken much more seriously, and now people who post sexual images or videos online without the subject’s consent and with the intent to cause harm could face up to two years in prison.
How the “intent to cause harm” element will be proved is as yet unclear, but the most commonly understood definition of revenge porn is people posting explicit images or videos of former partners, usually with women as the victims.
The new law classes revenge porn as: “photographs or films which show people engaged in sexual activity or depicted in a sexual way or with their genitals exposed, where what is shown would not usually be seen in public.” It covers material shared on or offline, and even that which has been distributed physically.
According to the BBC, “The Criminal Justice and Courts Bill, which has a specific amendment dealing with such actions, will receive Royal Assent and become law later. The amendment covers images sent on social networks, including Facebook and Twitter, and those sent by text.”
In case anyone is unsure what is meant by “royal assent,” the official site of the UK parliament explains that: “Once a bill has completed all the parliamentary stages in both Houses, it is ready to receive royal assent. This is when the Queen formally agrees to make the bill into an Act of Parliament (law).”
Most people are never quite sure what goes on between government and the Queen in these kinds of exchanges and in most cases it is a formality, but one can’t help imagining Her Majesty having revenge porn explained to her in detail over breakfast as she awkwardly pushes mushrooms around the plate and wonders what sort of trouble Henry VIII might have been in if the Internet had been around.
Existing law did not adequately cover revenge porn
Opponents of the law have claimed that revenge porn can be dealt with through existing law, but victims of revenge porn have found it difficult to have offending material removed from the internet, especially as host sites are located around the world, and requests to remove content are often ignored. In fact, the BBC suggests, asking for removal can result in more attention being brought to the images.
According to information from UK police, there were 149 allegations of revenge porn made between 1 January 2012 and 1 July 2014, with only 6 incidents resulting in police action. Victims have had to think laterally in order to use existing law, for example if an intimate picture has been taken as a “selfie,” then the image’s copyright belongs to the person who took it, that is to say the victim.
In the US, thirteen states currently have laws directly related to revenge porn: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, Idaho, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin. According to Criminal Defense Lawyer: “In most states, it is not a crime to post people’s photos or personal information online without their permission. However, some prosecutors have used laws against distributing pornography to go after people who commit revenge porn.”
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