FreeImages.com/Sonja Mildner
Today, most people have easy access to camera phones. Camera phones allow people to take and send photos in an instant. Sadly, some people use this technology to hurt others by putting their intimate photos online without permission. This is called “revenge porn” or “involuntary porn.” Revenge porn can be devastating. Victims of revenge porn often feel ashamed, embarrassed, and violated. Sometimes, revenge porn impacts the victim’s job or causes long term emotional stress. In this article you will learn how to protect yourself from revenge porn and what you can do if you are a victim.
How to Avoid Being a Victim of Revenge Porn
If you are in a happy dating relationship, you might not be thinking about the possibility of breaking up. You probably trust your partner and may feel safe sending private photos of yourself. It may be difficult to imagine your partner wanting to hurt you or embarrass you. However, even if you completely trust your partner, you should never send photos that you do not want on the internet. This is the only way to protect yourself from revenge porn.
What You Can Do If You Are the Victim of Revenge Porn
If you are a victim of revenge porn, you can do several things to protect yourself. First, you can find out where your partner or ex-partner posted your photos. After one photo is shared it can appear on many websites. To find all the places your image where your image appears, do a Google image search. To do an image search go to Google.com and select “Images.” On the right side of the search bar you will see a small camera icon. Copy and paste your image in the search bar and press the camera icon. The results will show you where your image has been posted.
Once you know where your image appears, visit each of the websites. Most websites include information about how to ask the website to remove an image. If you do not see any information about how to remove an image, look for general contact information or an administrative e-mail address. Contact the website and let them know somebody posted your image without permission. Tell them you want it removed.
If this does not work, you may be able to use a law called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to force the website to take your photo down. The DMCA protects “copyright holders” or persons who own the right to an image. If you took the photo that is online, you hold the copyright and the DMCA protects you. To assert your rights under the DMCA, you should send a notice to the website. You can send your notice via e-mail or regular mail. The notice should say you are the copyright holder and the company is violating your copyright under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 512. You should also include your contact information, enough information to identify your photo, your signature, and a statement that says you did not give the website permission to post your photo. Finally, you must also say that the information in your notice is accurate and that, as the copyright holder, The DMCA authorizes you to claim copyright infringement.
If you took your photo, you can also contact popular search engines and ask them to remove your image from their search results. This will not remove your image from other websites. However, it will hide your image if somebody searches your name. After the search engine receives your notice, your image will not appear in any searches performed on their site.
Finally, if you live in New Jersey you may be able to press criminal charges against the person that posted your photo. In New Jersey, sharing intimate photos without a person’s permission is a criminal invasion of privacy. If you would like to press charges, contact the police. From there, a prosecutor (the government lawyer who handles criminal cases) will decide whether or not to go ahead with your case. If the person is guilty of invasion of privacy he or she can be put in prison for three to five years and ordered to pay a fine of up to $30,000.
Conclusion
If you do not want to be a victim of revenge porn, you should not share intimate photos of yourself. Once somebody shares an image online it is almost impossible to control. However, if you are a victim of revenge porn you are not powerless. The legal and non-legal protections described in this article can help you remove your image and punish the person who posted it.
