As the problem of Cyber Exploitation or Revenge Porn has grown, state laws attempting to address the issue have multiplied. Currently, thirty-eight (38) states and the District of Columbia have some form of law addressing the problem.
In 2016, California Congresswoman Jackie Speier introduced the Intimate Privacy Protection Act to create a national ban on revenge porn but no action was taken on the bill. Since then at least two members of Congress have been victims of revenge porn.
Now a bipartisan coalition consisting of Senators Kamala Harris (D-CA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Richard Burr (R-NC) and Representatives Jackie Speier (D-CA), Katherine Clark (D-MA), Ryan Costello (R-PA), Trey Gowdy (R-SC), Walter Jones (R-NC), Patrick Meehan (R-PA), Gregory Meeks (D-NY), and Tom Rooney (R-FL) have introduced the Ending Nonconsensual Online User Graphic Harassment (ENOUGH) Act of 2017.
The ENOUGH Act would:
- Ensure that the Department of Justice has an appropriate and effective tool to address these serious privacy violations.
- Narrowly establish federal criminal liability for individuals who share private, explicit images without consent.
- Strike an effective balance between protecting the victims of these serious privacy violations and ensuring that vibrant online speech is not burdened. A prosecution under the ENOUGH Act would require proving that the defendant was aware of a substantial risk that the victim expected the image would remain private and that the sharing could cause harm to the victim. A prosecution would also have to prove that no reasonable person would consider the shared image to touch on a matter of public concern.
Supporters of the legislation include a number of law enforcement groups, the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative and women’s groups, as well as Facebook, Twitter, the Internet Association, Snap Inc., AT&T, Oath, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, The Future of Privacy Forum and leading academics.
Representative Clark also has introduced H.R. 3067, the Online Safety Modernization Act of 2017 which would criminalize and provide a private right of action for doxxing, swatting, and sextortion (including the threat to publish revenge porn).
The House has also passed the “Protecting the Rights of IndiViduals Against Technological Exploitation Act” or the “PRIVATE Act”, which would make disseminating revenge porn a violation of the Military Code of Justice. The bill was in response to a revenge porn scandal in the Navy and Marines.
A summary of the ENOUGH Act and the legislation are below.
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Cyber Report 
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