Revenge porn is sexually explicit material uploaded as pictures, videos or assorted media without the depicted party’s consent. Disgruntled ex-partners or even anarchic hackers often release sexually explicit material without the depicted’s consent.
To make matters worse, the ex-partners or hackers release revenge porn with the intent of shaming or humiliating the person or persons depicted in the uploaded pictures or videos. This makes revenge porn far more insidious.
Revenge Porn Legislation
As of January of this year, Israel became the first nation to characterize revenge porn as a crime, and prosecute accordingly. In the United States, Governor Jerry Brown and the state of California have criminalized revenge porn as of late 2013.
States like Maryland and Texas are in the process of concocting their own bills to combat the rise of revenge porn and other unsavory sexually explicit material uploaded to the internet.
In California, Senate Bill 255 makes it a misdemeanor offense to post an identifiable picture of someone on the internet without that person’s permission, and with the intent to humiliate or shame that person. The bill, inaugurated by Governor Jerry Brown, went into affect immediately after it was ratified into law. Senate Bill 255 makes this misdemeanor offense associated with as much as six months in prison and a one-thousand dollar fine.
The reason that many state legislators are embracing state-wide revenge porn legislation is that the victims of revenge porn are often relatively powerless. That is, these victims frequently lack the legal wherewithal and economic resources to successfully sue the person uploading the sexually explicit material without the victim’s permission.
As an interesting aside, and possible indicator of the kinds of issues revenge porn will be fraught with in other states, the American Civil Liberties Union has fought revenge porn legislation on the grounds of these state-based laws are an infringement of free speech.
To illustrate this point further, Florida recently struck down a proposal for revenge porn legislation on grounds of possible infringement of civil liberties. Missouri turned down a comprehensive 2008 bill banning revenge porn, which came in the wake of a victim who committed suicide following being exposed online.
Maryland Considers Criminalization
In February of 2014, Maryland’s House of Delegates voted 130 to 0 on legislation that would criminalize uploading revenge porn.
Proposed penalties for uploading revenge porn without the victim’s consent are two years in prison and a fine of $500.
The state of Maryland is currently weighing the free speech principles against the privacy issues associated with posting sexually explicit material online without the depicted party’s consent.
Maryland’s House of Delegates has already passed legislation that would make it a crime to post sexually explicit images of an ex-lover with the intent to shame or humiliate. The overriding concern in Maryland, as well as other states in which this issue is being debated, are over free speech and its constitutional limits.
The Maryland House of Delegates unanimously moved to make this kind of vicious porn illegal, according to a source from the Washington Post. The proposed law mentions “emotional distress” and “intentional placement” of uploaded material vis-a-vis an uploaded and personally identifiable piece of revenge porn.
The proposed law is a slippery balancing act between the victim’s right to privacy and the perpetrator’s constitutional freedom of speech.
Other States Debating Revenge Porn
New York, among other states, has proposed a new piece of legislation that would render it a misdemeanor offense to distribute explicit videos or images in cases in which the depicted party reasonably held the expectation of anonymity or privacy.
Still, Missouri and Florida are counterexamples of the trend towards free speech. The overriding question is where free speech ends and privacy issues begin.
