'Revenge Porn' Bill Will Be Reintroduced Next Congress, Get More Support, Says Speier
Federal legislation to criminalize individuals and websites that post and share nude images and videos without a person's consent -- or "revenge porn" (see 1502040042 and 1504060043) -- will be reintroduced next year, said the bill's author, Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., at a Friday Information Technology and Innovation Foundation event. "We have more work to do to get this bill passed," she said of the Intimate Privacy Protection Act, or IPPA (HR-5896), introduced in July after a drafting process that lasted more than two years. It was referred to the House Judiciary's Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations but didn't get a hearing.
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The three-term congresswoman said if re-elected in November, the IPPA will have "extraordinary" support when it's reintroduced. The legislation has six co-sponsors, including four Republicans. (The Cook Political Report describes her 14th congressional district as "solidly Democratic.") Speier Chief of Staff Josh Connolly, who was an ITIF panelist, told us afterwards that there's Senate interest in sponsoring the legislation. He said he didn't foresee changes to the bill if and when it's reintroduced, and it has support from Facebook and Twitter, with several more tech companies expected to support it publicly. The bill won't pre-empt state laws, he said, calling IPPA "another tool" to help prosecute individuals engaging in such behavior.
“We’re moving in an upward trajectory, so we’ll definitely have more supporters next year than this year and that’s the kind of movement we want,” ITIF Vice President Daniel Castro, who has written extensively about the issue, told us after the event. But he said more needs to be done to help victims and provide training and resources for the FBI and local police agencies. He said individuals usually don't know where to go or what to do if they've been victimized. "Right now ,it's a very big burden on victims to try and actually navigate laws," he said. Resource allocation for law enforcers is needed to help them rapidly respond to some cases while focusing on more difficult ones, he added.
Facebook made it easy for users to report and remove intimate images and employs a "multitude of people" using more than 40 different languages working round-the-clock to do that, said Antigone Davis, head of global safety, on the panel. She said the company is also working with the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative to create a process to remove revenge porn images across multiple platforms since images don't usually just show up on one website. Castro told us the bill is clear that its goal isn't to punish intermediaries like Facebook but go after those engaged in such behaviors. Connolly told us pornography websites wouldn't be liable "unless they're advertising or soliciting for this content ... and consensually obtain these images that weren't intended to be disseminated publicly."
“If passed, IPPA will punish individuals and websites that knowingly post private intimate material while also providing a safe harbor protection for websites that don’t advertise or solicit such content," said Speier in her talk. The bill would penalize individuals engaged in revenge porn with a fine or imprisonment for up to five years. She said the bill provides "strong exceptions" to protect free speech so private information voluntarily made public or in a "bona fide public interest" won't be criminalized. The bill has gotten backing from the National Association of Assistant U.S. Attorneys, National District Attorneys Association and from a dozen constitutional legal scholars, including Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California-Irvine School of Law, Speier said.
Attorney Carrie Goldberg, who represents many revenge porn victims, said during the discussion that 35 states and District of Columbia have criminal laws, but there's much variation. She said another 15 states don't provide any protection or recourse for potential victims. "In those states, it's perfectly legal to take an image of somebody else's genitals and post it online," she said. Ninety percent of her clients are women and on the younger side, she added. "They are absolutely terrified that they are never going to be able to get control back of their reputation."
The FTC settled a case against Craig Brittain, who created an alleged revenge porn site (see 1503020045), in January 2015. ITIF panelist Mark Eichorn, assistant director in the FTC Privacy and Identity Protection Division, said it was able to bring a complaint against Brittain because he was making money allegedly through the scheme, operating a website and allegedly directly soliciting photos. But he said the commission wouldn't be able to respond to, for example, a "vengeful ex-boyfriend" posting photos or videos on a website without a commercial motive.