The revenge porn law, which has
now come in effect in the United Kingdom, will protect men, women and possibly
children whose explicit sexual content had spread over the internet without
their authorisation. The revenge porn law will carry a penalty of up to two
years imprisonment.
Officially, the law describes
the crime as “posting private, sexual images of someone without consent and
with the intent to cause distress.”
However, this is truly not
enough to protect those whose lives could possibly be destroyed by revenge
pornography.
About 146 cases gathered from
nine police stations in England and Wales indicate that most of the cases
involved women and children as young as 14-years-old.
Suspects often send the sexually-explicit
content online through email and social networks.
The crime is not limited to
posting images
The Criminal Justice and Court
Act, which enacted the law today, increases the allowable sentence for “trolling”
online. An abusive message with the clear “intent to cause distress or anxiety”
could earn up to two years of imprisonment as well.
