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Revenge
Porn
What
is ‘Revenge Porn’?
One
in six 'revenge porn' victims are children with the youngest
aged just eight
States
With Revenge Porn Laws
Oregon's
Revenge Porn Law
What
if I was under 18 in the images?
I'm
being told that I should file a police report, what should I
know before I do?
Cyber
Civil Rights Initiative
Cyberbullying:
What Is Cyberbullying and How to Stop It - An
overview
Hillary
Clinton Vows To End Revenge Porn As
President
Revenge
Porn, Sundays 8/7c on Lifetime
Blue
Whale Suicide Challenge
Preview
Revenge
Porn
Revenge porn (sometimes lengthened to revenge pornography)
is the sexually explicit portrayal of one or more people
distributed without their consent via any medium.[1]
The sexually explicit images or video may be made by a
partner of an intimate relationship with the knowledge and
consent of the subject, or it may be made without his or her
knowledge. The possession of the material may be used by the
partner to blackmail the subject into performing other sex
acts, or to coerce him or her into continuing the
relationship. In the wake of civil lawsuits and the
increasing numbers of reported incidents, legislation has
been passed in a number of countries and jurisdictions to
outlaw the practice, though approaches have varied. The
practice has also been described as a form of psychological
abuse and domestic violence.[2]
The term "revenge porn" generally refers to the uploading of this sexually explicit material to humiliate and intimidate the subject, who has broken off the relationship.[1] The term is also often misused to describe non 'revenge' scenarios, including nonconsensual pornography distributed by hackers or by individuals seeking profit or notoriety. The images are usually accompanied by sufficient information to identify the pictured individual, typically names and locations, and can include links to social media profiles, home addresses and workplaces.[3][4] Victims, whose images expose them to workplace discrimination, cyber-stalking or physical attack, can have their lives ruined as a result. Given the practice by some companies of searching for potential sources of bad publicity, many victims of revenge porn have lost their jobs and found themselves effectively unhirable.[5]
Jurisdictions which have passed laws against revenge porn include Israel, Germany, the United Kingdom, twenty-seven states of the United States,[6] and the Australian state of Victoria.
Background
In the 1980s, Hustler magazine began a monthly feature of reader-submitted images of naked women called "Beaver Hunt".[7] Beaver Hunt photographs were often accompanied by details about the woman, like her hobbies, her sexual fantasies, and sometimes her name.[7] Not all of the women featured in Beaver Hunt submitted their own images and several women sued the magazine for publishing their photographs without their permission, or without verifying information on forged consent forms.[8]
Two decades later, Italian researcher Sergio Messina identified “realcore pornography”, a new genre consisting of images and videos of ex-girlfriends distributed through Usenet groups.[9] In 2008, amateur porn aggregator XTube began receiving complaints that pornographic content had been posted without subjects’ consent. Several sites began staging consensual pornography to resemble revenge porn, as well as hosting "authentic" user-submitted content.[9][6]
Revenge porn began garnering international media attention when Hunter Moore launched the website IsAnyoneUp in 2010.[10] The site featured user-submitted pornography,[10] and was one of the first sites to adopt the model initiated by Beaver Hunt: IsAnyoneUp often included identifying information, such as the subjects’ names, employers, addresses and links to social networking profiles.[10] Activist Charlotte Laws was the first person to speak out against Moore and one of the first people to publicly support revenge porn victims. This prompted backlash from some of Moore's devotees, who stalked Laws and sent her death threats.[11]
In February 2015, the social media site and online bulletin board Reddit announced a change to its privacy policy to ban the posting of sexually explicit content without the consent of those depicted. The announcement was made after a company meeting at which the issue of "illicit pornography — pictures and video — was a burning one".[12] In March 2015, Twitter followed suit with new rules to address the posting of unauthorized content and specifically revenge porn. Starting March 11, Twitter stated it would immediately remove "any 'link to a photograph, video, or digital image of you in a state of nudity or engaged in any act of sexual conduct' that has been posted without consent."[13] According to a Washington Post article, the changes were in response to growing concerns "that [Twitter] has not done enough to prevent bad behavior on its site."[14]
In June 2015, Google announced it would remove links to revenge porn on request.[15] Microsoft followed suit in July.[16] Both have placed forms on-line for victims to complete.[17][18] Together the two organizations account for nearly 90% of the internet search market in the US.[19]
Advocacy
The website endrevengeporn.org, founded by Holly Jacobs, a revenge porn victim, campaigns for the criminalization of revenge porn and considers it to be a form of sexual abuse.[20][21] Jacobs is also the founder of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI), a nonprofit organization that seeks to challenge cyber harassment. Danielle Citron, known for her discourse on cyber harassment as a civil rights issue, is an advisor for the CCRI.[22][23] Mary Anne Franks, CCRI's Vice-President and Legislative & Tech Policy Director, has been heavily involved with legislative and policy efforts to combat revenge porn.[24] Dr. Laura Hilly and Kira Allmann of the Oxford Human Rights Hub have characterized revenge porn as a kind of gendered hate speech designed to silence women. An article of theirs argues that this stifling of free expression is often ignored in debates over revenge porn.[25]
While not solely focused on revenge porn, the older non-profit organization Without My Consent provides legal resources related to it and lobbies to protect the privacy and free speech rights of online harassment victims.[26] Since 2012, there has also been a website Women Against Revenge Porn, calling itself "not an organization or a business", which has been cited as an advocacy group for people exposed in revenge porn.[27] In late 2014, Elisa D'Amico and David Bateman, partners at the law firm K&L Gates, launched the Cyber Civil Rights Legal Project (CCRLP), a project offering free legal help to victims of revenge porn.[28][29]
To better facilitate the introduction of relevant legislation, some anti-revenge porn activists have called upon others in their community to use gender-neutral language more often when discussing the issue.[30] The term "revenge porn" itself has also come under fire. The CCRI for instance prefers the term "nonconsensual pornography"[31] In analogy with "child sexual abuse images" being the preferred term for child pornography, journalist Sarah Jeong has argued that it is harmful to associate revenge porn with pornography which revolves around consent. She also considers it a mistake for activists to focus on revenge porn itself as the main problem, rather than the underlying culture which leads to its subjects being socially ostracized.[32]
Legislation
Laws banning revenge pornography have been slow to emerge.[33] Contributing factors include a lack of understanding about the gravity of the problem, free speech concerns,[34] belief that existing law provides adequate protection,[34] a lack of care, historically, for women's issues, and "misunderstandings of First Amendment doctrine" (Citron & Franks).[33][35] The American Civil Liberties Union the Electronic Frontier Foundation have drawn attention to the implications for free speech if legislation is too broad.[36][37][38][39]
Asia
Since 2009, the Philippines has criminalized copying, reproducing, sharing or exhibiting sexually explicit images or videos over the Internet without written consent of the individual depicted.[40]
Israel, which responded quickly to public pressure in January 2014, has also been called the first country to outlaw revenge porn. Under its law, sharing sexually explicit videos without the consent of the pictured individual is punishable by up to five years in prison.[41] After Israel's bill was passed, it was widely predicted that nearby countries such as Egypt, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia would not introduce similar bills as they have been slow to adopt legislation against sexual harassment in general.[42] However, some commentators have suggested that victims could find recourse in existing laws against pornography, indecency, defamation and invasion of privacy.[43]
Japan passed a bill in November 2014 which made it a crime to communicate "a private sexual image of another person" without consent.[44][45]
Australia
In December 2013, the Australian state of Victoria modified its existing sexting laws. In addition to prohibiting the sending of nude pictures without consent, the amendment also added safeguards to prevent minors from receiving child pornography charges for self-made content.[46] The legislation followed an upsurge in the practice[47] and the case Giller v Procopets, which had to be argued on the equity of breach of confidence and tort grounds.[48][49] New South Wales is also considering its approach to the practice,[50] as is Queensland.[51]
North America
Canada
In 2014, with the passage of the Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act, Canada criminalized the "non-consensual distribution of intimate images" that were made under a "reasonable expectation of privacy".[52]
United States
Tort, privacy, copyright and criminal laws offer remedies against people who submit revenge porn.[53][54] Slightly more than half of all U.S. states have laws expressly applicable to revenge porn: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California,[6] Colorado, Connecticut,[55] Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois,[56] Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan,[57][58] Minnesota,[59] Nevada, New Hampshire,[60] New Jersey,[6] New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma,[61] Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.[62] For example, New Jersey law prohibits both the capture and the distribution of sexually explicit photographs and films by any person, "knowing that he is not licensed or privileged to do so" and without the subjects' consent.[63] The law was used to prosecute Dharun Ravi, the Rutgers student who distributed webcam footage of his roommate Tyler Clementi engaging in sexual activity, after which Clementi killed himself.[64] The law has also been used to prosecute several men who allegedly distributed revenge porn of their ex-girlfriends.[65]
Mary Anne Franks, who drafted the model legislation and advised legislators in the majority of the above states, emphasizes that many of these laws are still deeply flawed.[66] Franks announced that she is working with Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-CA) on a federal criminal bill.[67] The most recent date projected for the federal bill was September 9, 2015.[68][69] The problems that can arise with an overbroad law were exemplified earlier in July when Arizona's federal judge Susan Bolton ruled that Arizona's revenge porn law could not be enforced in its present form following a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.[38]
Representatives from the Department of Justice, California's Office of the Attorney General, 50 major technology companies, victim advocates, and legislative and law enforcement leaders joined together in 2015 to form a Cyber Exploitation Working Group, and have announced the creation of a working hub "to combat so-called cyber exploitation — the practice of anonymously posting explicit photographs of others online, often to extort money from the victims."[70]
Criminal prosecutions
Several well-known revenge porn websites, including IsAnyoneUp and the Texxxan, have been taken down in response to actual or threatened legal action.[71] The former was investigated by the FBI after anti-revenge porn activist Charlotte Laws uncovered a hacking scheme associated with the website. Indictments for fifteen felonies were handed down under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in January 2014 for the site owner and his accomplices, and the trial was initially set to begin in November 2014 in Los Angeles.[72][73] Hunter Moore, the owner of IsAnyoneUp pleaded guilty to hacking and identity theft in early 2015.[74] Moore was sentenced to two and a half years in prison on December 2, 2015.[75][76]
In December 2013, California Attorney General Kamala Harris charged Kevin Bollaert, who ran the revenge porn website UGotPosted, with 31 felony counts, including extortion and identity theft.[77] In March 2014, because the victim was under eighteen years old in the photos, a court in Ohio awarded damages of $385,000 against Bollaert. In April 2015 Bollaert was sentenced to 18 years in prison.[78] "Sitting behind a computer, committing what is essentially a cowardly and criminal act, will not shield predators from the law or jail," said Attorney General Harris following the verdict.[78] Also in California, a man named Noe Iniguez was given jail time for posting a naked photo of his ex-girlfriend on her employer's Facebook page.[79]
Casey Meyering, the operator of revenge porn website WinByState, was arrested[80] in Oklahoma in 2014 and extradited to Napa County. Meyering's website invited users to submit nude photos of ex-girlfriends and other women, with the photos categorized by state. He would then make the women featured on his website pay $250 to have their photos taken down. There were about 400 images of California women on the website, including at least one in Napa Valley, where California Attorney General Kamala Harris had filed the case. After originally pleading not guilty, on May 8th, 2015, the 28-year-old man pleaded no contest to one count of extortion, three counts of attempted extortion, and one count of conspiracy. He was sentenced to three years in jail as of early June 2015.
Tort and privacy law
States without specific laws about revenge porn have seen lawsuits alleging invasion of privacy, public disclosure of private fact and intentional infliction of emotional distress against the individuals who uploaded the images.[81] Forty states, including California and New York, have anti-cyberharassment laws that may be applicable to cases of revenge porn.[62]
In February 2014, a US$500,000 settlement was awarded to a Texas woman who brought suit against her ex-boyfriend for posting video and photos of her on the Internet. The state did not have a specific "revenge porn" law at the time of the lawsuit.[82][83][84]
Communications Decency Act §230
Some revenge porn lawsuits have named service providers and websites as defendants alongside individuals who uploaded the images.[85] The Communications Decency Act, also known as §230, shields websites and service providers from liability for content posted by users providing they are not themselves co-creators of the content.[86][87][88] If user-generated content posted to a website does not violate copyright or federal criminal laws, sites have no obligation to remove the content under §230.[89][90]
Copyright
An estimated 80% of revenge porn pictures and videos are taken by the subjects themselves.[91] Those individuals can bring actions for copyright infringement against the person who uploaded their nude or semi-nude "selfies". American victims may file Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notices with service providers.[92] Revenge porn site MyEx.com has been a defendant in a copyright infringement case.[93]
First Amendment and anti-SLAPP
Some free speech advocates object to revenge porn laws on First Amendment grounds, citing the fact that US laws restricting expression have a history of being overturned.[94][95] Legal scholar Sarah Jeong argues that new criminal laws meant to combat revenge porn are likely to be overbroad, resulting in unintended consequences.[96]
Revenge porn uploaders and websites may also challenge lawsuits using state protections against strategic lawsuit against public participations (anti-SLAPP laws),[97] which allow defendants to counter lawsuits aimed at stifling free speech.[98]
Europe
Many European countries have broad privacy statutes that may be applicable to revenge porn.[99] France also criminalizes the willful violation of the intimate private life of another by "transmitting the picture of a person who is within a private place, without the consent of the person concerned".[100] A German High Court made a May 2014 ruling that intimate photographs of partners should be deleted if the partner so requests.[101]
United Kingdom
In 2012, the English singer-songwriter Tulisa Contostavlos obtained an injunction preventing the distribution of a sex-tape of her and a former lover that had been published on the internet.[102][103] The case was set to include considerable damages, but was settled out of court before it could be considered.[104][105]
In April 2014, UK charities including The National Stalking Helpline, Women's Aid, and the UK Safer Internet Centre reported increased use of revenge porn websites.[101] Women’s Aid Charity Chief Executive Polly Neate stated, "To be meaningful, any attempt to tackle revenge porn must also take account of all other kinds of psychological abuse and controlling behaviour, and revenge porn is just another form of coercive control. That control is central to domestic violence, which is why we're campaigning for all psychological abuse and coercive control to be criminalised". In July, Minister of Justice Chris Grayling announced plans to "take appropriate action" to address revenge porn in Britain.[101] A House of Lords Committee, in a report on social media and the law, subsequently called for clarification from the DPP as to when revenge porn becomes a crime.[106][104]
In February 2015 it was announced that the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015, which has a specific amendment dealing with such actions, had received Royal Assent. The Act is now law in England and Wales and offenders face up to two years in jail.[107] Section 33 of the Act makes it an offence to disclose private sexual photographs and films without the consent of the individual depicted and with the intent to cause distress. A person charged with this offence is not taken to have intended to cause distress if that distress was merely a natural and probable consequence of the disclosure.[108]
On April 23, 2015, a seminar was held in Westminster on the new legislation. The seminar was organised by the Oxford Human Rights Hub and co-hosted with the law firm McAllister Olivarius, the End Violence Against Women Coalition, The University of Durham, and The University of Birmingham.[109][110] The seminar called for the law to be extended to cover nuisances such as upskirting.
Chrissy Chambers, a YouTube star from the United States, is pursuing a civil suit against her British ex-boyfriend who posted sexually-explicit videos taken without her knowledge or consent to Facebook where they were repeatedly shared. Chambers is pursuing a civil case as the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 does not apply retroactively to content posted prior to its passage.[111][112]
Minors
If the video or images in question are of individuals who are minors, this can lead to legal action for child pornography[113] as has happened in non-revenge porn related cases involving sexting.[114][115]
Prenuptial agreements
Increasingly, couples are drafting
"social media" prenuptial agreements,[116] some of
which include provisions relating to revenge
porn.[117] Clauses may state that couples agree not
to share photos or posts that are likely to harm a
spouse’s professional reputation.[116]
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenge_porn
One in six
'revenge porn' victims are children with the youngest aged
just eight
An eight-year-old child has become the youngest victim of
revenge porn.
An investigation by Good Morning Britain also found that one in six victims of revenge porn are children.
Many of the victims had images shared on social networks like Instagram.
Amazingly, more than half of the 2,130 cases were dropped by police, said GMB.
The morning TV news programme submitted a Freedom of Information request to all police forces in England and Wales.
Of the 43 forces, 38 responded to the request and revealed there had been 2,130 cases of revenge porn between April 2015 and April 2016.
And, although not all forces provided information on victim ages, of those that did an astonishing one in six involved under-18s.
And an MP has demanded companies like Instagram do more to combat the growing problem.
The youngest victim, according to the investigation, was just eight years old.
Speaking on the programme, MP Maria Miller said: "I think what [GMB] have uncovered is so many people are not reporting these things because of the problem of feeling as though they won't be taken seriously or the recriminations that might happen as a result.
"The damage that it is doing to these young people is difficult to comprehend.
"No action is being taken by the organisations who are hosting these images.
"These organisations, such as Instagram, and others need to be doing far more."
Revenge porn refers to the sharing of private or explicit images or video of someone, sometimes including their personal details such as name and address, without their consent.
In April, scorned love rat David Whyte was handed a 12-month community order and ordered to pay £135 costs after he sent a revenge porn video of his “sex buddy” to an ex-girlfriend after he was dumped by the victim.
But he was caught out when the two women messaged each other on Facebook
Birmingham Magistrates' Court heard the victim was left terrified the footage would be plastered all over the internet.
The same month, nurse John Ronald was sentenced to an 18-month supervision order and 140 hours of unpaid work after he threatened to release revenge porn of an NHS colleague who dumped him.
At a court hearing, Ronald admitted hounding his victim by handing her a copy of the sex tape and suggesting he might damage her reputation unless she agreed to meet him.
In England and Wales it is specifically against the law to share private, sexual materials - either photos or videos - of another person without their consent and with the intention of causing embarrassment or distress.
An Instagram spokesman said: “We have a zero tolerance for bullying and content that puts the safety of young people at risk.
"We invest in extensive controls, in-app reporting and world leading technologies to identify and remove violating content and accounts.
"Our global team reviews all content reported to us and provides support around the clock, in over 40 languages.
"We also regularly monitor for
patterns of content that break our guidelines, and are
always improving our systems to provide a safe environment
for the community.”
Source: www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/one-six-revenge-porn-victims-8346359
What if I was
under 18 in the images?
If you were under 18 when the images were created, it is
recommended that you speak with a trusted parent or other
adult (such as a school counselor, teacher, or
administrator) in order to help you think through next
steps. Consider talking to a victim advocate or social
worker in your town or city. Victim advocates can help you
gather evidence, accompany you to the police or a
lawyer’s office, figure out how to keep you safe, and
help you get a protection order against the person targeting
you. In the US, victim advocates can be found in police
stations, rape crisis centers, domestic violence prevention
centers, offices of state attorneys general, sheriff’s
offices, and county offices.
Source: www.cybercivilrights.org/faqs-usvictims/
I'm being told
that I should file a police report, what should I know
before I do?
Unfortunately, many law enforcement officials
aren’t familiar with the laws, so look up the laws in
the state(s) where you and the person who posted the images
(if known) live before contacting the police. Visit this
website to see if sharing intimate images without consent is
a crime in your state:
http://www.cagoldberglaw.com/states-with-revenge-porn-laws/.
Click on the ‘+’ sign next to a state and it will
show that state’s status of legislation and provide a
link to the statute.
If sharing intimate photos without
consent isn’t a crime in your state, try using existing
crimes that posters sometimes commit while disseminating the
material (e.g., online harassment and stalking laws). For a
list of related laws, go here:
http://www.endrevengeporn.org/related-laws/. Then visit this
site to help you find the specific language for criminal
laws in your state: http://statelaws.findlaw.com//.Bring a
printout of the statutes (i.e., laws) applicable to your
situation with you so you can explain the situation
clearly.
Source: www.cybercivilrights.org/faqs-usvictims/
Oregon's Revenge
Porn Law
Oregon doesn't have any laws regarding sexting but they are
one of 26
states
with a Revenge Porn Law.Revenge porn: (SB 188 “unlawful
dissemination of an intimate image” - signed by
Governor on 6/11/2015)
(1) A person commits the crime of unlawful dissemination of an intimate image if:
(a) The person, with the intent to harass, humiliate or injure another person, knowingly causes to be disclosed through an Internet website an identifiable image of the other person whose intimate parts are visible or who is engaged in sexu-al conduct;
(b) The person knows or reasonably should have known that the other person does not consent to the disclosure;
(c) The other person is harassed, humiliated or injured by the disclosure; and
(d) A reasonable person would be harassed, humiliated or injured by the disclosure.
Source: /olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2015R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/SB188/Enrolled
What is
‘Revenge Porn’?
The term “revenge porn,” though frequently
used, is somewhat misleading. Many perpetrators are not
motivated by revenge or by any personal feelings toward the
victim. A more accurate term is nonconsensual pornography
(NCP), defined as the distribution of sexually graphic
images of individuals without their consent. This includes
both images originally obtained without consent (e.g. by
using hidden cameras, hacking phones, or recording sexual
assaults) as well as images consensually obtained within the
context of an intimate relationship.
Source: www.ebay.com/itm/like/221153590901?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_noapp=true
Resources:
Helpful
Tips For Victims of Revenge Porn:
Ridder, Costa & Johnstone LLP
Without
My Consent:
Attorneys in California promoting the cause and helping
victims.
Women
Against Revenge Porn:
A victim and advocate sharing her story and providing
helpful hints for photo removal.