D.C. Councilmember Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4) proposed a new bills that would criminalize “revenge porn,” the act of sharing sexually explicit content without the consent of the pictured individual, often released by ex-partners, or stolen and sold by hackers.
The Relationship Privacy Protection Act, proposed by D.C. mayoral candidate Bowser in April, would make the distribution of revenge porn a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison and a $2,500 fine. Websites and other parties who knowingly publish or otherwise distribute such material would face felony charges punishable by a five-year prison sentence and fines of up to $12,500.
“Revenge porn is the kind of abhorrent behavior on the internet that we must do all we can to stop,” Bowser said in a press release. “Protecting our residents from serious harm and maintaining their privacy on the web is an important priority of mine.”
The bill’s potential five-year sentence would make the punishment for “revenge porn” harsher than the punishment for most anti-revenge porn laws.
Revenge porn is currently criminalized in 13 states. Since the beginning of this year, revenge porn bills have either been introduced or are pending in 28 states, as well as in Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
Revenge porn grew to national and international prominence through the rise and subsequent fall of the website Is Anyone Up. Founded by Hunter Moore in 2010, the site hosted anonymous user submissions of sexually explicit material, which the Federal Bureau of Investigation found to be stolen, hacked or fake. After an FBI investigation, Moore faces multiple lawsuits and was indicted in a California federal court earlier this year.
Charlotte Laws, who instigated the FBI investigation after discovering photos of her daughter on the site, now serves a board member of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, an organization that supports victims of revenge porn and which has been involved with the District’s bill.
“This is encouraging, because a lot of the states have made revenge porn a misdemeanor,” Laws said. “Oftentimes, they only carry six months or a year in prison. In my experience, the people who submit revenge porn and the website operators are very afraid of prison.”
According to Laws, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) will introduce this issue at the federal level in 2015.
“The issue has really taken off,” Laws said. “Both politicians and law enforcement are taking it seriously.”
Holly Jacobs, CCRI founder and president, was a victim of revenge porn herself and reached out to Laws to co-found the organization.
“We talked about the idea of forming some sort of nonprofit organization to help victims, to educate about revenge porn and also to help legislatures who need assistance with drafting,” Laws said. “You’ll know there are other victims, and there are other people out there who care and are trying to help you.”
Stephen Yaeger (SFS ’18) said he supported anti-revenge porn legislation.
“I think that punishing people for publishing private pictures of others without their consent is totally warranted,” he said. “It’s a huge breach of privacy, especially since the pictures in question were generally intended to be private.”
He said that he thought the five-year penalty would be a justifiable step toward ending the practice of revenge porn.
“I think that would be severe enough punishment to deter this kind of action, which would definitely be a positive change,” he said.
Lyric Gupta (SFS ’18), disagreed, saying that the upgraded sentencing would be unnecessarily harsh.
“To say that it is punishable by up to five years in prison might be a bit much,” Gupta said. “I think the D.C. council should recognize that people who committed this crime aren’t really harmful to society.”
