Revenge Porn (H 7382A, S 2644 as amended)

In March, the ACLU testified before the House and Senate Judiciary committees in opposition to legislation addressing the electronic dissemination of sexually explicit material, often referred to as “revenge porn.” We testified that, while there are legitimate and serious privacy issues surrounding the transmission of a person’s private images without their consent, those issues are more appropriately dealt with in the civil court where remedies to these matters already exist. The ACLU further testified that the legislation as worded could result in heavy felony penalties levied against individuals who shared an image that was taken consensually and meant to be shared, simply because they did not receive explicit consent from the original subject. Part of the “computer crimes” legislation introduced by the Attorney General’s office, this legislation has failed to move out of committee for the past several years. The Senate approved the legislation in May; the House followed in June, but the bill was recommitted a few days later and did not receive another vote before the end of the session.