ARTICLE SUMMARY
Summary:
Nonconsensual distribution of intimate images seriously harms victims. New laws should be passed to protect rights to intimate privacy.
POLICY RELEVANCE
Policy Relevance:
Courts should be empowered to enjoin sites to remove intimate images. Such laws would not violate free speech rights.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Key Takeaways:
- “Intimate privacy” involves norms that protect boundaries surrounding aspects of intimate life such as sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and close relationships.
- Intimate privacy is insufficiently protected.
- Intimate privacy should be respected as a civil right.
- Intimate privacy is insufficiently protected.
- Violations of intimate privacy, such as the circulation of a “deepfake” video purporting to show the victim committing a sex act, causes physical, emotional, and psychological trauma.
- About one third of victims were harassed in person or on the phone by people who saw the intimate images.
- Victims may hesitate to form relationships.
- Victims may lose their jobs and struggle to find new employment.
- About one third of victims were harassed in person or on the phone by people who saw the intimate images.
- Legislation should be passed to support injunctive relief in cases involving violations of intimate privacy, allowing courts to order sites to remove nonconsensual intimate images.
- The proposed Uniform Civil Remedies for Unauthorized Disclosure of Intimate Images Act empowers victims to seek injunctive relief and attorneys’ fees, unless the posted images are in the public interest; Arkansas, Iowa, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Colorado have adopted this law.
- Congress should amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, empowering courts to enjoin web sites and platforms to remove nonconsensual intimate content and pay attorneys’ fees.
- Several courts have ruled that state laws barring distribution of nonconsensual pornography are narrowly tailored to serve a compelling state interest, and do not violate the First Amendment.
- The public might have a legitimate interest in reading about a public official’s intimate life, but distribution of nonconsensual images of the official’s intimate life is not in the public interest.
- European Union (EU) data protection laws regulate distribution of information about a person’s sex life and/or other sensitive information; the EU recognizes a “right to be forgotten,” which allows data subjects to petition sites to delete irrelevant information linked to their name.
- Some tech companies limit distribution of nonconsensual intimate images.
- Google will suppress search results for individuals on a registry of “known victims.”
- Facebook uses “hashing,” a mathematical process that helps computers detect duplicate images, to block nonconsensual intimate images.
- Hashing should be used to limit the spread of images internationally.
- Google will suppress search results for individuals on a registry of “known victims.”