How do countries fight the non-consensual dissemination of intimate images?
Among the subjects pertaining to our Inequalities and Identities research area, the issue of online gender-violence has taken the main role.
Between 2015 and 2016, we did a research on the legal confrontation of non-consensual dissemination of intimate images (NCII), or “revenge porn”, in Brazil, and this work resulted in the book “The Body is the Code: juridical strategies to face revenge porn in Brazil” — a multifaceted analysis of this phenomenon. However, this problem is not exclusive to our context and, by continuing on this line of investigation, between 2017 and the beginning of 2018 we did an exploratory research on how the regulation of the dissemination of NCII happens around the world. Encompassing a diverse set of countries and regions, we analyzed forms of regulation in 27 countries.
The result was the report “Facing the non-consensual dissemination of intimate images: a comparative analysis”. In this report we present (i) information that was previously sparse and that have the potential to become an important source for more extensive research and (ii) an exploration on how diverse legal systems deal with this topic, in a way to allow for a reflection on these regulatory models and an inspiration for creative solutions. The complete report can be accessed here.
On this page, we also present a world-map with the countries we analyzed during the research, along with a summary of each regulatory landscape.
Click on a country to go to its specific information.
Argentina
Argentina does not yet have a specific law on the dissemination of NCII. Still, its constitution protects the right to privacy and has a law on women protection that could be used in some cases. There is a bill proposed in 2016 that makes the diffusion of images with sexual or erotic content without express consent a crime.
Law: Ley de Protection Integral a las Mujeres
Law: Argentine criminal code
Bill: Proyecto de ley S-2119/2016
Case: Camus Hacker and other cases
Australia
Australia, in a national scope, develops a pilot-project of offering support to the victims of the dissemination of intimate content without consent. In addition, some of its states criminalize this kind of action, like Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia. Some of these states also enforce already existing laws to fight child pornography to deal with cases involving minors.
Public policy: Portal Image-based abuse
Victoria
General law: Crimes Act 1958
Specific law: Summary Offences Act PART I–PROVISIONS APPLICABLE THROUGHOUT VICTORIA
New South Wales
Specific law: Crimes Act 1900 – Division 15C Recording and distributing intimate images
South Australia
General law: Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935
Specific law: Summary Offences Act PART 5A – Filming and sexting offences
Queensland
General law: Criminal code 1899
General law: Youth Justice Act 1992
Brazil
Brazil does not have a specific law on NCII dissemination. Since 2013, there are bills on the subject, the most recent one being presented in 2018 (PL 9930/2018) at the Chamber of Deputies. Furthermore, for the removal of content, articles 19 and 21 of the Brazilian Internet Civil Rights Framework can be enforced, there is the possibility of suing the perpetrator in the criminal and civil scopes and, in the cases of intimate relation of affection, use the protective measures of the Maria da Penha Law.
To know more about the Brazilian case, read the full analysis in the digital book “The Body is the Code“.
Cameroon
There is not a law that specifically prohibits the dissemination of NCII, however, judges use laws regarding cybercrimes to regulate the matter, such as Law 2010/012 Relating to Cybersecurity and Cybercriminality.
General law: Law n° 2010/012 Relating to Cybersecurity and Cybercriminality
Canada
Canada passed in 2014 an emendment to its Criminal Code that criminalized, among other digital crimes, the dissemination of NCII. The province of Manitoba has a law that supports victims and allows them to easily sue the perpetrators.
Case: Amanda Todd and Rehtaeh Parsons Cases
General law: Criminal Code (163.1 (child pornography))
Specific law: Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act (amendment to the Criminal Code) 162.1 and 162.2
Manitoba
Specific law: Intimate Image Protection Act
Chile
Chile does not yet have a specific law, but in some judicial cases, the removal of the online content has been determined. Since 2014, there is a bill that intends to criminalize the act of disseminating images of sexual content obtained in the private scope without authorization.
General law: Rol N° 1243-2016.PROTECCION
Case: 5 Chilean cases
Colombia
Colombia does not have a specific law or a bill on this topic, but there is a chapter on its Criminal Code on cybercrimes that can be enforced in some cases.
General law: Ley nº 1273 (articles 269-A a 269-J 58)
Denmark
Denmark has put in place a public policy of conscientization at schools (for students, teachers, and parents) and for the general public through informative materials and digital influencers. In addition, the country intends to increase the penalty in its Criminal Code for those who publicize pictures that describe the strictly private aspects of someone’s life.
Public policy: Portal Alle For en Mod Mobning
General law: Criminal Code (articles 264 d – disseminating someone’s private material/ 235 – child pornography)
Bill: Nameless
France
In October 2016, France passed the Loi pour une République Numérique that, among other provisions, includes in the French Criminal Code a crime that penalizes the dissemination to the public or to a third-party any record or document, written or in image, of sexual character, even if this record was obtained with the express or presumed consent.
Specific law: Loi pour une République Numérique (changes the Criminal Code)
Germany
The German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) decided on a specific case that images of an ex-partner should be deleted by those in their possession if requested. Germany criminally typifies the act of “violating one’s intimate privacy by taking pictures”, which includes the prohibition of illegally disseminating to third-parties an image, even if at the moment it was taken there was the consent by the pictured person, as it is a violation of privacy.
Law: VI ZR 271/14 (BGH, Urteil vom 13. Oktober 2015 – VI ZR 271/14 – OLG Koblenz)
India
India does not have a specific law or bill on the matter, but there are some of its laws that can be enforced to cases of NCII dissemination. The country also has very strict laws regarding the dissemination of images containing minors.
General law: Information Technology Act 2000
General law: Indian Penal Code
General law: The Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act
Israel
In 2014, the Israeli Parliament passed an amendment to the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Law, in which the distribution of a person’s image focusing on their sexuality in circumstances that the publication can humiliate or degrade and that are not consented by the person to be published can be punished both civil and criminally.
Specific law: Prevention of Sexual Harassment Law, 5758-1998
Japan
Japan has the Revenge Porn Victimization Prevention Act, which criminalizes the publication of sexual images that disturb someone’s private life without consent, in addition to facilitating the process of removing the content from the Internet.
General law: (all laws and articles that are mentioned can be found on Shigenori Matsui’s article)
Specific law: Revenge Porn Victimization Prevention Act
Kenya
Kenya does not have specific laws or bills, but there is a law against cybercrimes, the Kenya Information and Communications Act, which criminally punishes the improper use of computer systems, sending of offensive, indecent, obscene, or threatening message, sending of fake message just to cause harm, inconvenience or anxiety, as well as the electronic publication of obscene material. However, these provisions mainly aim at commercial or computer system attacks (and not the protection of people).
General law: Kenya Information and Communications Act
Mexico
Mexico has a bill from 2016 which established the new crime of harassment and also extends the penalty to the crime of revealing secrets from professional relations, in addition to encompassing family and affective relations under its provisions.
New Zealand
Through the Harmful Digital Communications Act, New Zealand created the crime of “harmful communications”, in which the non-consensual dissemination of intimate images is included. In addition, NetSafe was appointed as a special agency that will offer support to the victims and build bridges between the victims and intermediaries, when possible.
Public policy: Harmful Digital Communications Act
Specific law: Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015
Philippines
In 2009, the Anti-Photo and Voyeurism Act came into force. It criminalizes the act of recording someone’s image in a sexual or similar situation or capturing images of someone’s intimate areas. It is one of the first specific laws on the matter.
Specific law: Anti-Photo and Video Voyeurism Act of 2009
Portugal
The country had two judicial decisions between 2015 and 2016 which determined that one can ask for an indemnity in the case of the dissemination of intimate content due to the lack of care with the material’s security. There was also a conviction for invasion of private life and creation of a fake profile and, in addition, Portugal has a bill that intends to include penalty-aggravating factors when there is the non-consensual dissemination of intimate images on domestic violence and intimacy of the private life crimes, and on the crimes of illegally recording and photographing.
Bill: Bill n. 736/XIII
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico currently has a bill that criminalizes the act of publishing any explicit material without authorization or consent through any electronic or cybernetic communication media. The bill provisions both for the punishment of natural and legal persons. Other laws in the country’s Criminal Code can be enforced in some cases.
General law: Criminal Code (art. 191 – Extortion)
Bill: Ley Contra La Venganza Pornográfica de Puerto Rico
South Africa
South Africa has the 2013 Protection for Harassment Act, which provides protective measures for those who suffer online or offline harassment and has provisions that force the intermediaries to collaborate with the judiciary in order to identify the ones behind this harassment. There is also a bill to criminalize the distribution of messages with data of non-consensual intimate images, among other digital crimes.
Law: Protection for Harassment Act
Bill: Cybercrimes and Cybersecurity Bill
Case: Caso Shadi Rapitso
Spain
The Spanish Criminal Code began to criminalize the dissemination to third-parties of images taken in a private scope in 2015. In addition, the Organic Law for Personal Data Protection allows the request for removal of intimate content if it is inadequate or excessive — the Spanish Agency of Data Protection has the authority to make demands for content removal from European websites and can block the access to certain content within Spain.
Specific law: Criminal Code, chapter “Del descubrimiento y revelación de secretos”
General law: Organic Law n.o 15/1999
Uganda
Uganda has anti-pornography and anti-obscenity laws, like the Anti-Pornography Act, which criminalizes both who produces and disseminates the content and who takes part in the pornographic content, making the law enforceable to perpetrator and victim.
General law:
The Anti-pornography act (the laws referenced here can be found on Chisala-Tempelhoff and Kirya’s article)
United Kingdom
Early in 2015 the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 came into force, establishing new provisions to the UK’s criminal system (England, Wales, Northern Ireland). Among them, we have the crime of revealing private sexual photos and films, with the intention to cause anguish.
General law: Serious Crime Act
Specific law: Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015
Scotland
In 2017, the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm Act came into force, making a crime the act of threatening or concretely revealing media in which a person is (or appears to be) in an intimate situation (disclosure of an intimate image or film) without their consent. The law punishes both those who have the intention to harm and those who are negligent/indifferent to the possibility of this material being shared.
Specific law: Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm Act
United States of America
The US does not yet have a specific law on the matter, even though it already has two proposed bills. 38 of its states criminalize this issue. The country also has an article on the Communications Decency Act that limits the liability of intermediaries when it comes to third-party content regarding the exposure of adult women.
General law: Communications Decency Act
Bill: Intimate Privacy Protection Act
Bill: Protecting the Rights of Individuals Against Technological Exploitation Act (HR 2052)
Uruguay
Uruguay has a bill from 2015 that creates the crime of dissemination of intimate images and punishes intermediary parties that do not remove the content from the web. By analyzing judicial cases, cases of NCII dissemination were fit as slander and pornographic exposure.
General law: Criminal Code
Bill: Proyecto de Ley Pornografía de Venganza
Case: 3 Uruguayan cases