Illinois becomes latest U.S. state to ban revenge porn (The Daily Dot)
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In the U.S. historically there’s been little legal recourse for victims of revenge porn, with those affected often forced to turn to copyright law to protect themselves—if they took the photos themselves then, by default, they belong to them. It’s the line of argument that multiple celebrities used to have their intimate photos taken down from websites after they were leaked during Celebgate.
But slowly, on a state-by-state basis, legislative responses to revenge porn are emerging. More than a dozen U.S. States have already passed laws against non-consensual pornography, the New Republic reports, including California, Texas, Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Colorado.
And now Illinois is joining that small but growing group, with Gov. Pat Quinn signing into law legislation on Dec. 29 outlawing the “non consensual dissemination of private sexual images,” KFVS 12 reports. Bill sponsor Sen. Michael Hasting described revenge porn as “psychological abuse to the highest degree,” and the law will go into effect on Jun. 1, 2015.
Some have questioned the effectiveness of anti-revenge porn legislation alone, arguing that the act is symptomatic of a deeper sexism that needs to be tackled if the problem is to be eliminated. There may be some truth in that—but the actions of Illinois, and others like it, are certainly a step in the right direction.
Link: http://www.dailydot.com/politics/illinois-revenge-porn-2014-backlash/
