Call for crackdown on ‘revenge porn’
Jail for sharing private sex pictures
ANY person who knowingly shares private sexual photographs and films on the internet and through social media without consent should be jailed and their names should appear on a Sexual Offenders registry.
This week the portfolio committee on communications will hold public hearings into the criminalisation of revenge porn, a new criminal offence in the Films and Publications Act Amendment Bill.
The generic ter m “revenge porn” is used to cover all instances of non-consensual distribution of private images, regardless of how the images were obtained (for example by hacking) or the intention for their distribution.
A case involving a North West woman, who shared a picture of her private parts, intended for her husband, in a WhatsApp school hockey moms group, trended on social media for several days.
But by the time she realised her mistake and apologised to the other moms on the group, the picture was already shared and had created a storm on social media platforms with dozens of embarrassing memes of the woman’s face and private parts.
Earlier this week a teacher from a school in Nquthu, northern KwaZulu-Natal, was suspended after he allegedly recorded a video of himself having sex with a pupil, whose face was clearly visible. The video was also leaked on social media. The girl, allegedly in the video, later reportedly attempted suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills.
The North West case has particularly angered social media law experts such as Emma Sadleir, who also authored the book, Don’t Film Yourself Having Sex. “Lives have been ruined, not just the victim’s life, but her family as well. It’s all fun and games until somebody commits suicide.
“I’ve had clients who’ve moved countries and changed their names to escape revenge porn. I’ve been accused of victim-shaming when I tell people not to take pictures of themselves naked. I’m not victim-shaming. I just feel utterly helpless when private pictures are published because everybody is a celebrity in the digital age and reputation management is crucial; and the internet doesn’t forget, ever.”
Another expert, Lizzie Harrison, said while it was silly of the woman to post the picture of her private parts, she had every right to pursue legal action.
She said, however, that there had not been enough cases of this nature in the country for them to speculate on the likely outcome of civil cases but the seriousness of these offences was increasingly understood in the courts.
The draft law prohibits any person from distributing private sexual photographs and films. It states that no person may expose, through any electronic medium, including the internet and social networking sites, a private sexual image or film without the consent of the person who appears in the photograph or film; and with the intention of causing that individual distress.”
While Sadleir and her team welcomed the bill and applauded its progressive nature, she questioned whether the Films and Publication Act, 1996 (as amended) was the correct act to include the criminalisation of revenge porn.
“We instead propose it would be more accessible and beneficial, for victims, for this issue to be recognised for what it really is – a form of sexual offence, and contained in the Sexual Offences Act.
Sadleir and her team will also ask for harsher punishment in cases where the identity of a victim is revealed by the perpetrator, as the harm caused to the victim is naturally greater in these cases.
“We are concerned that simply criminalising the offence does not provide enough protection for victims. We ask for stricter measures that mean that once content has been deemed illegal, it is permanently erased by all internet service providers and that independent computer forensic experts are given access to all of the perpetrator’s devices to ensure the content has been fully deleted. And, if any person is found to still have copies of the images once they have been deemed illegal, they are guilty of an offence.”
The team have also questioned whether it is appropriate to limit the le gislation surrounding revenge porn to simply digital media, particularly images.
“This is an incredibly serious problem, which impacts on the lives and constitutional rights of those victimised by it.”
In her book, Sadleir writes: “Don’t film yourself having sex. And don’t send naked pictures of yourself to anyone. If you want to spice up your relationship, do it where technology can’t find you, or, if you insist, at least make sure your face and genitals are not visible in the same frame.
“If you think none of this bad stuff is going to happen to you, you should know that when you come crying to us in a year’s time about how your life was ruined, we’re just going to say “we told you so! It’s in the title!”
The public hearings will be held in Parliament from Tuesday to Thursday.