Back in May we wrote about a problematic new anti-revenge porn law in Arizona. As we've been detailing for a while, revenge porn is a horrible thing, done by disgusting people, but we're quite reasonably worried about many of the legal attempts to "deal" with it, because they're often overly broad, or create other problematic consequences. The Arizona law was immensely troubling in that it appeared to punish First Amendment protected activities, and turning them into a "sexual offense" that was considered on par with domestic violence in the law. Even posting something for a journalistic purpose could be considered a felony offense. We had trouble seeing how it could possibly be Constitutional.If we criminalized all a-holish behaviors, there would certainly be fewer people on the streets.
It appears we weren't the only ones alarmed by the breadth of Arizona's law. The ACLU has now sued to argue that the law is an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment. The ACLU, in its announcement about the lawsuit, details a number of situations in which the law would technically apply, creating criminals...
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Revenge Porn
I haven't mentioned the ACLU in forever and then they show up in two of my posts today, this being the second:
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This isn't a first amendment issue -- all models and actresses (and actors) must sign a release form before their image is used for profit. If I put a nude picture of an ex-girlfriend up on my own personal blog, if I had one, then I should be protected by the first amendment. On the other hand ... if I sell it to a revenge porn site without the woman's consent, I've violated her right to be compensated for it ... but ... presumably she consented to having the picture or video taken (if not, then release the hounds) so trying to claim it's a sex crime is ridiculous.
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