What You Should Know About the New NYC Revenge Porn Law

Think twice before you hit the “send” button on that racy picture you took of your ex last year. Sharing illicit photographs without the subject’s permission, a practice known as “revenge porn,” is now illegal in the State of New York.

It’s a bill that took five years to pass. It died in the Republican-controlled senate. The Democrats revived it and passed it in February of this year. New York judges may now order websites to remove the images while holding people accountable for sharing them.

Possible Jail Time

Revenge porn is now a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail. It doesn’t matter whether you sent the image to your ex with the intent of harassing or threatening that person.  

It doesn’t matter if you uploaded it to a site. It doesn’t matter if you shared it with a single friend. All of these count as transmitting the image without consent.

See also: Can Your Search History Really Get you Arrested?

Transmitting the image in any way without consent will mean you are vulnerable to being charged with this crime.

Keep in mind if you are convicted it will remain on your permanent record, and will send signals to future employers or landlords about your personality which may make it harder for you to locate either work or housing in the future. They may even assume you are more likely to commit a more severe sexual crime later.

Civil Consequences

Perhaps of more concern than the jail time is the conviction opens you up to a civil lawsuit in which the victim can sue for damages.

Revenge porn tends to cause severe depression, impact victim’s careers and relationships with their family, and creates a situation in which the victim is victimized for life. Given this level of harm the amount of money you could owe to your victim could be steep indeed.

For example, a judge ordered MLB player Jacque Jones to pay his victim $67,000 in one California case.

It’s probably not worth it to indulge your anger, no matter how upset you are over the fact that your ex ended the relationship or hurt you in some other way.

How You Should Respond

If you know you’ve sent images like this since the law has passed, it’s a good idea to line up a lawyer now. The victim now has the ability to call law enforcement, and it would not be wise to assume he or she won’t do so.

But that doesn’t mean the case is open and shut. Like any criminal case, there are nuances that will make your case unique. There may be ways our offices can mitigate your situation. And we can certainly help if your ex believes you sent images you never sent, but which came from some other source.

See also: How To Know Your Cybercrime Lawyer Has Enough Experience.

If you’re being charged with revenge porn or any other cybercrime, call Koch Law today for a free case evaluation.

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