Revenge Porn: What It Is and How to Protect Yourself

Since the internet was first developed in the 1960s, it has become fundamentally effortless to access any content. Internet gaming and email were established in the 1970s. Internet pornography was also established and has continually spread on the internet. A new trend in pornography later emerged which involved the ability of individuals to upload and download their sexual content and also videos and photos of other people with or without their consent. Distributing sexual content without owners’ content has come to be referred to as revenge pornography. This is one of the most deceitful crimes to emerge from advanced technology. Most of the established reasons behind the act of revenge porn are the perpetrator’s intention to embarrass their victims, humiliate them and damage their reputation as a form of revenge from a past breakup (Goldsworthy, Raj & Crowley, 2017). Revenge pornography has become common throughout the world to the extent of making its way into fictitious stories as the art of drama and performance continue to imitate real life.

Importance 

Due to the rampant cases of revenge pornography cybercrime, the Australian Parliament, for instance, passed laws intended to protect the citizens from people spreading non-consensual sexual images and videos on the internet, locally known as revenge porn by initiating civil and criminal penalties. These measures are meant to prevent violation of personal privacy and dignity. The laws aim at discouraging potential perpetrators through both criminal and civil penalties. The enactment of these laws followed legislation by the government to improve reporting and other mechanisms of online safety issues by strengthening the role of the e-safety commissioner to be accountable for the safety of all Australians online (D’Amico 2015). The laws are also intended to provide justice to previous victims of revenge pornography and punishment for perpetrators who probably escaped due to lack of legalizations that addressed the issues of revenge pornography (Jeong, 2013). The absence of such laws has made it difficult to provide justice to the victims both in states and federal level.

Prevalence 

The non-consensual sharing of sexual photographs and films has become increasingly prevalent in Australia and across the world. This has been aided by rapid technological advancement and the use of Smartphones, and other recording gadgets as well as extensive use of social media. It has been argued that revenge porn is just a single factor of the massive trend that has seen technology facilitating criminal activities. As a result of the shift from analog to the digital world, globalization, and dependence on technology, most act the activities are conducted on the digital world. As a result, most data is prone to hacking (Franklin, 2014). This concept of non-sensual pornography came to spread worldwide in the year 2014 when a tremendous iCloud hack led to the disclosure of many intimate, sexual private photos of celebrities against the consent of the depicted persons. The privacy of the victims was severely jeopardized since most of the images posted had personal data attached. Research has revealed that the prevalence of revenge porn in Australia is at a very high rate even compared to countries like the US and UK (Felson 2013). The research indicated that with the 4000 Australian interviewed, 10% of the adults had had once or several occasions their nude or semi-nude images posted online without their permission. It was also revealed that there had been multiple cases of threats to post intimate images by ex-lovers.

Several academic types of research advocating for criminalization of revenge porn categorize it mainly as a gendered form of sexual abuse because the majority of the victims are women. It can also be categorized as a new trend in domestic violence. This is because threats to post or share these explicit materials can be used as a means to maintain power and control over the victims. Through this argument, it can be said that technology has given perpetrators extra strategies to extend their abuses in a manner that touches their victims’ lives (Franklin, 2014). Many victims across the world have been forced to comply with the demand of the perpetrators to have the material pulled off from the internet. Further study has revealed that as much as revenge porn is widespread in society, institutions of higher learning are the most affected by this menace. This is due to increased innovations in computer technology in these environments which also facilitates cybercrimes.

The high prevalence of revenge porn has also been facilitated by a large number of uncontrolled pornographic website globally. A research conducted from 2014 showed that there were at least more than 3000 pornographic websites existing and the majority of them functioning on revenge purpose (Franklin, 2014). Each of these websites operates on its guidelines for submission of content. A large number demands anyone is posting an image or a video to include the names, age and other personal information of the individuals appearing on the content. These websites have allowed offenders to include the personal information of their victims including, place of work, residence, and their social media links. For instance, in 2013 interview of approximately 1,500 people, it was discovered that more than 50% of the victims had their social networking profiles and full name appearing against their nude photos posted online (Citron & Frank, 2014). Research has it that the number of revenge porn victims may be higher than anticipated owing to the fact that many victims opt to remain silent after being threatened.

Historical Development 

During the period of the 1980s, a publisher of Hustler magazine occasionally posted nude photographs of real women on the magazine sometimes without the permission of the persons depicted. The photos would be submitted to the publisher by ex-partners of the victims. These cases have been considered to be the initial instances of revenge pornography on a large scale. Most of the photos had been captured in a secluded environment where the individuals had a high expectation of privacy (Scheller 2014). From that period non-consensual disclosure of images or videos started hitting the headlines on popular magazines especially in US, UK, Canada, and Australia. However, the massive boom of this act hit the world in the period around 2010 when the internet became an essential component of most individuals. Most websites that hosted revenge porn were created during this period. One of the first porn websites on the internet was IsAnyoneUp.com. Though the website was later scrapped off, it had some unique features; most of the people who featured on the site were unwilling porn stars whose clips were submitted by vengeful ex-partners or hackers who had breached the social media accounts of the victims. The site was followed by others like ugotposted.com. The owner of this website was convicted for blackmailing victims of the images posted on the website. This particular site encouraged people to post nude images of other people without owners’ permission along with identifying information. The site holder would then email the victims owing to remove the images at a fee of up to $400.

In the following years, the demand of non-consensual pornography increased which prompt production of consensual pornography that was made to look like non-consensual. This made non-consensual porn to be viewed as usual since it was and has remained challenging to differentiate between real and fake revenge porn (Dymock & van der Westhuizen, 2018). However, revenge porn ( both real and fake) has increasingly featured on the internet not only to humiliate the victims but also since the videos are watched by millions of particularly now with access to free porn sites such as PornHub and ex-Videos.com. The 2014 iCloud hack has remained to be the significant point considered to have led to widespread of revenge porn. Although this incident was branded as Fappening, because the victim took the matter on a lighter note compared to previous cases, it is still considered to be revenge porn (Levendowski, 2013). In the current society where nude images have been spreading all over the magazines and social media, the issue of revenge porn has been taken with greater magnitude by the governments.

Information on Victims and Offenders 

A major concern of revenge pornography is the harm it causes to the victims. Some of the victims of this act have been threatened harassed, fired from work and stalked online. Moreover, the victims have suffered insecurity, depression, emotional distress and also suicidal cases reported. Victims have made efforts to get the material off the internet by using copyright laws and other relevant means (Waldman, 2015). In recent years, multiple cases of revenge porn have been reported both within Australia and outside world. Some of these cases have hit the media headlines, for instance, the case of Emma Holten. Her private sexual images were disclosed without her permission. She resulted in disclosing other nude photos in her consent; therefore, diverting the attention from non-consensual content to consensual. There are some other cases that left victims damaged to levels of not regaining control of themselves. Such include the case of Tiziana Cantone who committed suicide after her sexual images were posted online. She became so distressed after being unable to overcome the attention and shame she faced after becoming a victim of revenge pornography (Henry, 2016). In 2016, Chantal Rijken was forced to fight legal battles with social media platforms like Facebook to disclose the user's information exposing the perpetrator after she was unable to find the offender.

Revenge pornography perpetrators are driven by different motives to post sexual images or films of other people on the internet. Research has revealed that most of the penetrators are ex-lovers to the victims who may not have been satisfied with separation. However, other offenders are hackers interested in blackmailing victims into gaining money. Australia like other countries is moving swiftly to enacting appropriate laws that will see revenge porn offenders punished in an aim to scare away other potential offenders. Some states have already enacted specific laws meant to deal with this offense (Lonardo, Martland & White, 2016). Victoria and South Australia initiated the program and other states such as New South Wales, and Western Australia has followed suit (Carter, 2015). However, for an offender to be convicted guilty, there are several aspects to be considered such as the perpetrators’ condition before, during and after committing the crime. For instance, in a recent case in the country, two men were convicted of the offense. One of them was detained for more than six years while the other one was convicted not guilty.

The Theoretical Explanation of why Crime Occurs 

There have been multiple theories put forward about revenge pornography and other related cybercrimes. Cohen and Felson’s Routine Activities Theory suggest that three primary factors predict the likelihood of an occurring victimization act. The motivated perpetrator must exist, the presence of a suitable target, and the capable strategy makes it easier for the offender to victimize the target. According to this theory, all the factors must be present for the crime to occur. Lifestyle exposure theory states that an individual’s free time activities contribute to victimization. The theory posits that individual social role and lifestyle patterns can contribute to the decision to commit a cybercrime. The two theories have been widely applied to explain the causes of various criminal victimizations including revenge pornography (Reyns, Henson & Fisher, 2011). The two approaches are empirically supported by criminological research in providing predictable causes that could make an offender plan and commit a crime. In the routine activity theoretical analysis, one of the three factors, capable strategies contributes to cybercrimes victimizations (PARODI, 2013). The theory assumes that the offender and the target are provided with situational aspects. In revenge pornography, a hacker can find a suitable target in the form of an online user who saves his/her explicit images and videos in his computer without equipping with necessary computer security. The theory also states that suitability is likely to reflect on different aspects: the value of the prime target, physical visibility of the target and accessibility of the target. For a non-consensual content hacker, accessibility of the target’s profile is necessary to access personal information such as name and contacts.

In conclusion, Revenge pornography has been termed as the non-consensual sharing of explicit videos or images that are done without the consent of the content owners. The act is very rampant in the society, and therefore it is essential for the Australian government to follow the lead of other countries such as the US in criminalizing the act. Some states such as Victoria and South Australia have taken the initiative to enact individual laws that would curb the spread of this menace. There has been a significant prevalence of this act particularly in universities where individuals intend to hurt their ex-lovers. Revenge porn has been reported to cause emotional and psychological problems to the victims leading to suicidal cases. Revenge porn dates back from the initial establishment of the internet and has continually increased in smartphone and social media era. Several theories such as lifestyle exposure approach and routine activities theory have been put in place to explain the motives that lead to the occurrence of revenge pornography.

References

Carter, N. (2015). The Case for the Criminalisation of Revenge Pornography in Australia. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2834668

Dymock, A., & van der Westhuizen, C. (2018). A dish served cold: targeting revenge in revenge pornography. Legal Studies, 1-17. doi: 10.1017/lst.2018.27

Elisa D’Amico, ‘The War to Stay Secure: Online Privacy and the Battle in the Civil Courts against Sexual Cyberharassment’ (2015) 41(4) Human Rights 5, 6.

Felson, M. (2013). Routine activity approach. In Environmental criminology and crime analysis (pp. 92-99). Willan.

Franklin, Z. (2014). Justice for revenge porn victims: Legal theories to overcome claims of civil immunity by operators of revenge porn websites. California Law Review, 102 (5), 1303-1335.

Franks, M. (2015). Drafting an effective "revenge porn" law: A guide for legislators. University of Miami School of Law.

Goldsworthy, T., Raj, M., & Crowley, J. (2017). “Revenge Porn.” International Journal Of Technoethics, 8(2), 26-41. doi: 10.4018/ijt.2017070103

Henry, N. (2016). Henry Responds To Dickson: ‘Revenge Porn’: A Victim-Focused Response. Unisa Student Law Review, 2. doi: 10.21913/uslrunisaslr.v2i0.1358

Jeong, S. (2013, October 28). Revenge porn is bad; Criminalizing it is worse. (S. Chokski, Ed.)

Lonardo, T., Martland, T., & White, D. (2016). A Legal Examination of Revenge Pornography and Cyber-Harassment. Journal Of Digital Forensics, Security And Law. doi: 10.15394/jdfsl.2016.1412

Levendowski, A. (2013). Using Copyright to Combat Revenge Porn. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2374119

PARODI, F. (2013). The Concept of Cybercrime and Online Threats Analysis. International Journal Of Information Security And Cybercrime, 2(1), 59-66. doi: 10.19107/ijisc.2013.01.07

Reyns, B. W., Henson, B., & Fisher, B. S. (2011). Being pursued online: Applying cyber lifestyle–routine activities theory to cyberstalking victimization. Criminal justice and behavior, 38(11), 1149-1169.

Scheller, S. H. (2014). A picture is worth a thousand words: The legal implications of revenge porn. NCL Rev., 93, 551.

Waldman, A. (2015). A Breach of Trust: Fighting 'Revenge Porn'. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2698722