New York State Senate Passes Bill Outlawing "Revenge Porn"

The New York Senate recently passed legislation criminalizing “revenge porn.” The bill sponsored by Senator Joseph Griffo (R-C-I, Rome), would establish the crime of non-consensual dissemination of sexually explicit images, also known as “revenge porn.”

Senator Griffo said, “In an era of increased text messaging, social networking, and emailing, people in intimate relationships sometimes share pictures with each other, some of which may be sexually explicit in nature. However, recipients of these images do not always keep the images private and have the ability to widely disseminate the photos on the Internet. Posting these photographs online should be a crime because it damages the reputations and potentially the wellbeing of the victims, who are routinely threatened with sexual assault, harassed, or fired from jobs.”

Revenge porn is often committed via the internet, sometimes with disparaging descriptions and identifying details, and in an effort to maximize damage against victims. New York’s current distribution of unlawful surveillance only governs photographs taken without the subject’s consent. This bill would make it a class A misdemeanor to disseminate photographs that are captured consensually, oftentimes as part of an intimate, private relationship which are later disclosed by an individual without the consent of the individual photographed.

In addition to this measure, the Senate passed a variety of measures to safeguard individuals and families by creating new crimes, increasing penalties, and giving law enforcement necessary tools to combat abuse and exploitation.

For additional information on protecting children and individuals from exploitation, click here.