The Right to Be Virtually Clothed
2016; University of Washington School of Law; Volume: 91; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1942-9983
Autores Tópico(s)Law in Society and Culture
ResumoINTRODUCTIONAmanda Todd was a fifteen-year-old girl from British Columbia.1 An anonymous stranger convinced her to reveal her breasts on her webcam.2 A year later, the stranger created a Facebook page with the picture.3 Amanda was harassed, bullied, and tormented, both at school and online.4 Amanda expressed her devastation in a YouTube video, stating, can never get that photo back. It's out there forever . . . .5 A few months after she made the video, Amanda took her own life.6 The permanence of such photos is a foundational aspect of nonconsensual pornography's invidious nature-once content is created, there is no practical way, legal or otherwise, for victims to conceal or remove images.7 This can change.Nonconsensual pornography-also known as porn-is a form of online harassment that causes irreparable reputational and career damage.8 Revenge porn is the nonconsensual distribution of sexually explicit photographs or videos online. Often the perpetrator will post an image along with a fake advertisement for sex and the subject's individually identifiable information such as their home and work addresses, social media profiles, and social security numbers.9 Additionally, some perpetrators will intentionally prioritize the order that a search engine displays nonconsensual pornography results when someone searches for the subject's name.10 As a result, revenge porn can cause severe emotional harm, ruin careers, and place survivors11 in physical danger.12This Comment will propose three legislative measures that would mitigate harms associated with revenge porn. Part I describes how the internet promotes and extends access to content, which facilitates revenge porn and intensifies its damage.13 Part II analyzes historical and contemporary approaches to privacy law in the United States and gives a brief overview of current legal approaches to revenge porn. Part III advocates for recognition of a to be virtually clothed, stemming from the to be forgotten and the to as recognized internationally. Specific to the revenge porn context, the to be virtually clothed includes the right to remove nonconsensual images from search engine results, and the right to delete nonconsensual images once consent has been withdrawn-from both a website hosting the images and from the individual who possesses the images. Finally, Part IV describes the potential legal challenges these proposals might face and ways to overcome these barriers.I. REVENGE PORN DESTROYS CAREERS, REPUTATIONS, RELATIONSHIPS, AND CAUSES PSYCHOLOGICAL HARMOften, the first response to revenge porn is a form of victim blaming14: don't take nude photos or videos.15 The logic goes, if you do not take pictures or videos of yourself or allow others to take them, then you will not have a problem. This ostensibly simple solution ignores the gendered nature of the problem,16 the reality that these images are being taken-and will continue to be17-and the severity of the effect of the non-consensual publication of nude images online. What happens online affects our lives offline. People who post revenge porn online destroy survivors' offline reputations, job opportunities, and relationships, and cause psychological harm.18 These harms are intensified due to cultural norms and because the internet is easy to use and globally accessible.19One prominent aspect that fuels revenge porn's harms is its cultural and gendered context. It is often men who instigate the initial act of recording and women who suffer the consequences.20 Danielle Citron, who has extensively studied revenge porn, illustrates that revenge porn is powerful because society gives it power: [h]arassers know that women will be seen as sluts . . . [and] post women's nude images because they know it will make them unemployable, undateable, and at risk for sexual assault.21 Although revenge is certainly a reason that people post revenge porn, it is not the only reason. …
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