Protecting yourself from revenge pornography - share your images before your abuser does!

There has been considerable legislative development in the UK and other jurisdictions around the protection of the victims of “Revenge Pornography”. While both England and Wales (section 33 of the Serious Crime and Courts Bill 2015) and Scotland (section 2(1) of the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016) legislation have already shown a significant response in the courts, this remain a last resort and potentially costly way of resolution for victims. The Crown Prosecution Service guidance suggests that court proceedings will only be pursued by the state if there is clear evidence of intent to cause distress and the person in the image has not consented to the image being shared. While the current issues around sentencing and issues with the legislation lie outside of the scope of this article, the fact that intent to cause distress is so clearly defined by the CPS, we can see there will may discrepancies between what we might argue to be revenge pornography and that which can be tried in a courtroom. As is typical with any social problem facilitated by technology, legislation, with its precise definitions and case based interpretations, can only go so far to protect victims of harm.