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Sep 20, 2024 · Congress added a new provision in the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2022. This lets you bring a civil action in federal court against someone who shared intimate images, explicit pictures, recorded videos, or other depictions of you without your consent (15 U.S.C. § 6851).
- Introduction
- Legislative Responses to The Non-Consensual Distribution of Intimate Images
- Essential Elements of The Offence
- Complementary Amendments
The non-consensual distribution of intimate images (including videos) can occur in various situations involving adults and youth, including relationship breakdown and cyberbullying. During the relationship, the partners may exchange or take intimate photos of themselves for their personal use, but when the relationship breaks down, one of the forme...
Comparative International Perspectives
Only the state of New Jersey in the United States has a criminal offence Footnote 31that addresses this conduct specifically. That offence prohibits the distribution of photos or videos of nude persons or persons engaging in sexual conduct, unless the person depicted in the photo consents to the distribution. Several Australian states have enacted various laws which deal with elements of the non-consensual distribution of intimate images, though many of these offences are extensions of the cr...
Existing Criminal Code Offences
Existing Criminal Codeoffences can be used in some situations, although these usually require the presence of additional conduct which may not be present in most cases involving the non-consensual distribution of intimate images. In certain circumstances, section 162 (voyeurism), section 163 (obscene publication), section 264 (criminal harassment), section 346 (extortion), and sections 298-300 (defamatory libel) may apply. In cases where the intimate image depicts a person under the age of 18...
Policy Basis for a New Offence
The Working Group considered two approaches to addressing this issue: (1) whether the objective of the offence should be to protect against specified conduct undertaken with a specific intent (e.g., malicious intent), or (2) whether the objective of the offence should be to protect against privacy violation. There was consensus that having a specific intent element may make the offence more difficult to prove, whereas, a privacy-based offence would not require proof of a specific intent, i.e....
The Image is an Intimate Image
The Working Group recognizes that it would be inappropriate to criminalize the distribution of photos that are simply embarrassing or unflattering. The term "intimate images" is intended to refer to images that relate to the core of a person's privacy interest. Such images are generally understood to depict explicit sexual activity or nudity or partial nudity that is captured on film or video consensually. The Working Group agrees that a new offence should protect similar privacy interests as...
Overlap with Existing Offences
Child pornography includes visual representations of explicit sexual activity or a visual representation of which the dominant characteristic is the depiction, for a sexual purpose, of the sexual organs of persons under the age of 18. The definition of child pornography also includes written and audio materials. It is an offence under section 163.1 to, among other things, make, distribute, possess and make available child pornography. In R.v.Sharpe, Footnote 35the Supreme Court of Canada esta...
Act Elements
The Working Group agrees that the offence should capture all ways in which intimate images may be shared, either through physical delivery, making available, social networking, email, or word of mouth advertising, etc. This may include the publication, advertisement, distribution, transmission or making available of an intimate image to another person. Further, the distribution of the images, in whatever form, would be done without the consent of the person depicted in the image.
Warrant of Seizure
The public availability of intimate images distributed non-consensually continues to harm those depicted in the images by violating the depicted persons' privacy. Although in many cases Internet Service Providers and others who receive such images will voluntarily remove and/or destroy them, situations may arise in which a court order is required to ensure their removal. There is currently no provision that would permit a court to order the removal of non-consensual intimate images from the I...
Forfeiture
The Criminal Code permits the court to order forfeiture (section 164.2) of things used in the commission of a child pornography offence (section 163.1), luring a child (section 172.1) or arranging a sexual offence against a child (section 172.2). The purpose of this power is to remove the tools used to commit any of these offences to prevent and deter an accused from perpetrating further criminal acts against a child. While it may be possible to use the Criminal Codeprovisions relating to sei...
Restitution
Restitution in criminal cases can only be ordered where there are readily ascertainable losses related to categories outlined in section 738 of the Criminal Code. For example, where a victim suffered loss or destruction of property due to the offence, physical or psychological harm as a result of the offence, or incurred costs to re-establish their identity in the case of an offence under section 402.2 (identity theft) or section 403 (identity fraud), the court can order restitution. In a cas...
Nov 14, 2019 · March and Wagstaff explored sexting in connection with online dating behavior, defining sexting as sending photos of one’s own genitals, which they refer to in their study as explicit images.
Oct 14, 2022 · Yellowknife lawyer Peter Adourian says unsolicited explicit photos could amount to a form of harassment. (Walter Strong/CBC) The CBC asked the RCMP for comment, but got none by deadline.
A BBC investigation has found that women's intimate pictures are being shared to harass, shame and blackmail them on a massive scale, on the social media app Telegram.
Jul 7, 2023 · Classifying the sharing of intimate images as a sexual offence in law is a significant step that victims, campaigners and researchers have been demanding for years.
Jul 4, 2022 · It occurs when intimate, nude or sexual images are distributed without the consent of those pictured. This includes real, altered (e.g. Photoshopped) and drawn pictures and videos.
