California outlaws revenge porn in first-of-its-kind legislation

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/02/us-usa-revenge-porn-idUSBRE99113H20131002

California outlaws 'revenge porn' in first-of-its-kind legislation

(Reuters) - California Governor Jerry Brown signed a first-of-its-kind state law criminalizing what has become known as revenge porn, the distribution of private, explicit photos of other people on the Internet, usually by ex-lovers or spouses, to humiliate them.

The measure, which passed both houses of the Democratic-led state legislature almost unanimously last month, makes it a misdemeanor for individuals to take and then circulate without consent such images online with the intent to harass or annoy.

A conviction is punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine for a first offense.

Signed into law late on Tuesday, the measure goes into effect immediately. It takes aim at an increasingly prevalent act of betrayal that typically occurs when a person posts nude images of a former romantic partner online as a way of exacting revenge after a breakup.

The images often end up proliferating on dozens of revenge porn websites that specialize in publishing such pictures, some of which charge the subjects fees to remove the offending material. The only other recourse victims have had was to pursue the perpetrators in civil court.

"Until now, there was no tool for law enforcement to protect victims," said the legislation's chief sponsor, state Senator Anthony Cannella, a Republican from the Central Valley town of Ceres. "Too many have had their lives upended because of an action of another that they trusted."

California law already made it a crime to take sexually explicit photos or video images of another person without his or her consent or knowledge.

The new statute extends the same misdemeanor classification to anyone who takes nude pictures of another person under the mutual understanding that those images are to remain private but subsequently distributes the images without permission to cause serious emotional distress.

New Jersey has an older law that allows criminal prosecution of such behavior, but that measure was passed as a cyberbullying statute not specifically aimed at revenge porn itself, said Cannella's spokesman, Jeff Macedo.

The phenomenon has become so widespread that it was recently featured as a story line on the popular HBO series "The Newsroom," in which one of the main characters, Sloan Sabbith, played by Olivia Munn, falls prey to an act of revenge porn by an ex-boyfriend.

A leading activist for criminalizing the practice is Holly Jacobs, a victim herself who launched a website called endrevengeporn.org to lobby for greater sanctions against revenge porn and to offer assistance to other victims.

Describing her ordeal on her website, Jacobs recounts that a former boyfriend began posting explicit photos and video of her on the Internet after their breakup in 2009, along with her full name, email address, job title and specifics about where she worked and her PhD program in psychology.

"For three years damage control was a full-time job," she wrote, recounting that police and FBI were of no help, and that an Internet specialist she hired to get the material removed proved fruitless.

In an interview with NBC News, Jacobs called the new California law "an encouraging first step." But she said it fails to criminalize the distribution of self-taken photos, or "selfies," that were shared willingly with spouses or partners but later posted online without the subject's consent.

The new statute also does not target revenge porn sites. Operators of such websites, and their users, are generally immune from liability for the content furnished to those sites by others under the 1996 federal Communications Decency Act.
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www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Law-offers-hope-to-victims-of-revenge-porn-4872856.php

The new law only covers photos taken of a victim not by a victim, and that are shared without consent "with the intent to cause serious emotional distress." Those images include concealed filming or those captured consensually. The penalty is up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

"It doesn't protect selfies, which is the whole point of (expletive) revenge porn," Moore said in the 12-minute YouTube video.

Here, even those who despise sites like the one Moore operated can agree. The law doesn't go far enough.

"We got some protections out there," said state Sen. Anthony Cannella, R-Ceres (Stanislaus County), who authored the law. "There is more we can do."

Cannella said he excluded self-taken photos early in the legislative process due to concern from other members that it could result in an increase in the already overcrowded prison population.

"My bill would have died if we didn't do that," Cannella said.

He plans to push for extending the law to cover self-shots when the Legislature returns in January. Cannella said he believes federal legislation is needed as well in order to remove protections for revenge porn sites under the Communications Decency Act of 1996. The act shields website operators from user-submitted content. Revenge porn sites rely on the photos submitted to them, including those from ex-spouses, online flings or images hacked from e-mails.
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So its ok if my intent is to spread joy around the world? Just as long as I don't intend to harass or annoy, correct?
 
So it's legal if you were proud of her and wanted to show her off to everybody with no intent to cause emotional distress? Lots of grey area here.
 
Seems like it would be difficult to prove guilt. "My phone got hacked!"

I'm not sure if the courts really need to be tied up with petty relationship bickering. Don't make porn if you aren't comfortable with it getting out.
 
border said:
Seems like it would be difficult to prove guilt. "My phone got hacked!"

I'm not sure if the courts really need to be tied up with petty relationship bickering. Don't make porn if you aren't comfortable with it getting out.
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"Don't make money if you aren't comfortable having it stolen."
 
Mr. Enigma said:
That's a pretty horrible comparison. You kinda need money. You don't really need someone taking nude pictures of yourself. Also, money won't completely shame and ruin your life if someone trades it anywhere.
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You only need enough money to live.

Regardless, to my understanding, "need" is not the basis for all laws.
 
Good start, could never imagine posting picture just to hurt someone like that. It's a real fear people have though. I'm always kinda offended when a girl tells me if I ever put these photos on line they will kill me. I never would.
 
i didn't realize this was actually a thing...always figured that shit was fake. also, i'm kind of surprised that this wasn't already a crime.
 
TheMan said:
i didn't realize this was actually a thing...always figured that shit was fake. also, i'm kind of surprised that this wasn't already a crime.
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The stuff on sites most likely is. This law seems to cover situations like one I remember from high school.

A classmate of mine dated this guy for 3 years or so. She goes off to college and and he didn't get in. They drifted apart so she breaks up with him. How does he handle it? He logged on to her myspace(goddamn that was a while back now) changed the password and posted all the private picks he had taken of her. Nudes, her sucking him off, etc.

That's what i think this law is trying to do something about.
 
border said:
Seems like it would be difficult to prove guilt. "My phone got hacked!"

I'm not sure if the courts really need to be tied up with petty relationship bickering. Don't make porn if you aren't comfortable with it getting out.
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For every picture and video you take, you should assume there is a risk that it will get out. People need to exercise judgement and avoid recording anything that can come back to bite them.

However, that doesn't answer how we should respond once it has already happened. Even if the best solution is to never make such recordings in the first place, there will still be cases where it happens and this finally establishes some legal framework to deal with it. This particular law sounds rather vague and difficult to enforce, but at least it helps bring legislation up to speed with technology.

Not taking such pictures in the first place should be a general rule, but it's not a solution to the problem.
 
A ridiculous law with lots of room for interpretation that will not stop the basic problem, people sending dick and tit pictures to everyone they have had more than a fb chat with.

"I left my phone on the counter at a party" or "I shared them before we broke up" is an absurdly easy alibi.
 
Now we can have revenge-revenge porn.

Girl breaks up with me.

I take a picture of myself naked, post it on internet. Blame it on ex-girlfriend.

Ex-girlfriend goes to jail.
 
Not exactly revenge porn, but a type of porn that I find legitimately shocking is the College Rules site. Regular porn is ok because its all so fake, but college rules is real people in real situations acting like that.
 
Hermii said:
Not exactly revenge porn, but a type of porn that I find legitimately shocking is the College Rules site. Regular porn is ok because its all so fake, but college rules is real people in real situations acting like that.
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Is it though? I figured they were all just industry regulars or newbies masquerading as 'real people'.
 
Hermii said:
Not exactly revenge porn, but a type of porn that I find legitimately shocking is the College Rules site. Regular porn is ok because its all so fake, but college rules is real people in real situations acting like that.
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They've really suckered you good if you believe that. It's just lesser known porn people.
 
There's different kind of revenge porn though.

Type A is when a guy wants to get back at his ex or something so posts nudes or sex pics.

Type B is a porn scenario when a girl or guy wants to get back at their cheating lover/abusive husband by fucking someone else and then calling them while giving a blowjob or send a pic to them or even tieing them up and fucking the other person in front of the cheater.
 
Woah, I clicked on this thread thinking it was the other kind, the fictitious type where the girl gets with with another man to "get back at her ex." I guess this is a thing too, but it's blackmail or at least harrassment. It shouldn't have been legal in the first place.

The phenomenon has become so widespread that it was recently featured as a story line on the popular HBO series "The Newsroom," in which one of the main characters, Sloan Sabbith, played by Olivia Munn, falls prey to an act of revenge porn by an ex-boyfriend.
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Also another woah. Does this have something to do with those pics of Olivia Munn? Were they actually part of the show?
 
If you are stupid enough to send nude pictures of yourself to someone else, you deserve the horror of them ending up online and/or passed around. Actions have many potential consequences kids, better get used to that fact.
 
First person sentence under said law:

Noe Iniguez, 36, was found guilty of three criminal counts including two
restraining order violations and the state revenge porn statute following a seven
day jury trial. Judge David Fields sentenced Iniguez to one year in jail and 36
months’ probation and ordered him to attend domestic violence counseling and
stay away from the victim. Iniguez was immediately taken into custody to begin
his sentence.
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http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...sentenced-under-californias-revenge-porn-law/
 
This is a good law. Hopefully other places follow this.

It's stupid to ask people not to photograph or film themselves, the right way to do it is to punish those who betray their confidence and post those videos/photos.

Sure, you need to be careful with that kind of stuff but the person publishing them should get punished no matter what.
 
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