The things we do for love … and live to regret.
Sharing intimate photos has fast become something that has joined a modern “I wish I hadn’t done that” list because not all love is a happily-ever-after story. When a relationship ends badly, one party might get back at the other by sharing those intimate, maybe even naughty, images with the world, much to the humiliation of the person who posed for them.
Smart phones, laptops, websites all make such emotional retaliation as easy as pressing a button. When those once-private pictures are out in the great blue nowhere of the Internet, they can live on and on as they are copied and recopied.
It’s called “revenge porn,” and a local state legislator has put forward a bill aimed at curbing that abuse.
State Rep. Tom Murt (R-152nd dist.), whose district includes parts of the Northeast as well as eastern Montgomery County, introduced a bill that addresses revenge porn both criminally and civilly, he said in a June 12 phone interview.
Revenge porn can damage reputations or careers in a matter of seconds, he said.
“It’s a disgraceful practice that must be stopped,” Murt said. “What we are talking about is cyber extortion and cyber humiliation, and it must end.”
House Bill 2107 recently was approved in the state House, Murt said, and is now before the state Senate, where the representative expects it to do well.
If the bill is enacted, it would be unlawful in Pennsylvania to disseminate an intimate image with the intent of causing emotional distress to the person depicted, Murt said. Right now, he said, “there is no such provision in Pennsylvania statutes.”
Criminal penalties set forth in Murt’s bill make “unlawful dissemination of an intimate image” a misdemeanor with penalties of not more than six months in jail and up to a $1,000 fine. Civilly, it gives the victim the right to sue, he said, and attempt to get damages, attorney fees and court costs.
Murt said his measure was prompted by the advancement of technology that makes revenge porn so easy. “Years ago, there was no need for something like this,” he said.
The legislator said there have been other attempts to criminalize revenge porn. Lawmakers have taken a couple of stabs at it, he said, but added he believes his measure is superior in that it protects people even if the revenge porn originates outside of Pennsylvania if either the victim or perpetrator is located in Pennsylvania.
“This is long overdue,” Murt said. ••
