With the rapid growth in popularity of internet, the cases of Revenge Porn have seen an upward trend. The best way to counter Revenge Porn and to prevent someone from being a victim is gaining the knowledge about Revenge Porn. The frequently asked questions regarding Revenge Porn and their answers are discussed below.
What is Revenge Porn?
Revenge Porn or Non-consensual pornography is defined as the distribution of graphic content that is sexual in nature of an individual without their consent. In many cases, the reason behind the act is revenge, and hence the name Revenge Porn. The content distributed could be obtained either with the consent or without the consent of the individual.
How does it affect the targeted individual?
Revenge Porn has a profound negative impact on the victim’s emotional state and their professional, social and personal life. The damage caused is such that the victim sometimes commits suicide and many of them need psychotherapy to overcome the situation.
Are there laws to protect a victim and are the existing laws sufficient?
Existing laws such as laws to prevent harassment and stalking and voyeurism laws are insufficient to counter the non-consensual pornography. The framework of law either doesn’t cover the latest in technology like hidden cameras, or they are inefficient to counter a careful perpetrator that targets an individual to extract money. Most of the laws do not cover the instances where the intimate content was consensually shared with an intimate partner, which was later used against the victim.
Copyright or civil suits are a viable counter to Revenge Porn, but the cost involved in the process makes it out of reach of many victims. Another drawback of these suits is that they are time consuming and bring in focus the offending content. According to attorney Minc a renowned online defamation attorney, the existing laws related to voyeurism, harassment and child porn can be used to protect a victim.
Is criminalizing nonconsensual porn a violation of first amendment?
Nonconsensual porn is a violation and invasion of the victim’s privacy. Since there are already criminal laws in place to protect medical, financial and similar instances of privacy, criminalizing Non-consensual porn could not be a violation of the first amendment.
Apart from these commonly asked questions, few other things that concerning the criminalization of Revenge Porn are,
- Most of the victims of nonconsensual pornography didn’t willingly make the content that was used against them.
- If a victim shared any content with their intimate partner, then it was not with an intention or consent to the content being shared by the intimate partner.
- Currently, 34 states of United States have criminal laws directly related to non-consensual
- There is a need for both federal and state laws against Revenge Porn to effectively counter the conduct, and a framework will not have any effect on the normal defense of entities like Google.
The Ohio revenge porn laws are non-existent, and there are a few more states that need a proper law against Revenge Porn. The instances of Revenge Porn extract a heavy toll on a victim’s life and normalizing the mental and emotional state of a victim takes a long time. The need of a specialist attorney to legally counter the conduct is a necessity to protect the victim.