New York Senate Passes Anti-Revenge Porn Law
In a landmark win for people who’ve dated absolute jerks, the New York Senate has officially passed legislation making the dissemination of revenge porn illegal. If (and when) it passes the State Assembly, it will officially be against the law to share “sexually intimate images or images of intimate parts of another person without that person’s explicit consent in order to harm, harass, scare or alarm that individual.”
According to Animal NY, while state law already protects those who have sexually explicit photos taken of them and disseminated without their knowledge, this new law—introduced by State Senator Phil Boyle (R – Suffolk County) last fall—would afford protection to those who knew what was going on at the time, but didn’t expect to have their images shared online.
Those prosecuted under the new law will be charged with a class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail, while repeat offenders will face a class E felony, punishable by up to four years in jail if they disseminate revenge porn within 10 years of their first offense. If the law passes the Assembly, New York will be one of three states (including California and New Jersey) with anti-revenge porn laws on the books.
Check out our interview with Brooklyn revenge porn lawyer Carrie Goldberg from February 2014 to learn more about the intricacies of this law.
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