There's A New Resource For Revenge Porn Victims

Revenge porn is a nightmare in a lot of ways, including the fact that it can be horrendously difficult for victims to get pictures taken off the Internet. But now the California Attorney General is launching a new website to help revenge porn victims take action. While much of the resources on it are only applicable to Californians, it's theoretically useful for anyone, no matter where they are — so listen up, lawmakers: We need this nationwide, and now.

The website provides a wealth of much-needed information for both victims and law enforcement officers. Because cyber crimes are still relatively new problems and because laws and procedures concerning them are thus new as well (or often stil sadly nonexistent), often times law enforcement officers are unfamiliar with the best practices for addressing such crimes; they might not be aware of all the relevant laws concerning a given incident. There have been numerous stories in recent years of revenge porn victims who have been met with confusion or indifference by law enforcement, which is clearly something that needs to change. In California and several other states, posting revealing photos of a person without their consent is illegal, and law enforcement should be investigating it as such — and victims should know that they have options and that there are concrete actions they can take.

That's why the new website is so great. It includes a list of relevant California laws that individual acts of revenge porn (or, as they term it "cyber exploitation") might violate, information for how to get images or posts taken down, and information about launching a potential civil suit, which is also allowed under California law. For law enforcement, the site also lists suggested policies and procedures for handling cyber exploitation, and as well as includes resources that the Attorney General's Office has to help local agencies deal with the crimes.

All of this is important and can really help victims both seek justice and get revealing photos taken off the Internet.

Of course, not everyone who falls prey to revenge porn lives in California. However, the site could also be useful for people in other states. It discusses at length why cyber exploitation is harmful and provides links to various web companies' policies for getting images removed. Even in states where laws haven't yet caught up to technology, people can still sometimes get images removed. Though sometimes the police can't offer much help, many companies have been proactive about making policies that allow victims to report revenge porn and get it off their sites — for instance, PornHub just made it a lot faster and easier to get videos and images uploaded by users taken down.

So if you ever need resources (which I sincerely hope you never do), you can check out the site — especially if you or the person violating your privacy live in California.

Images: Pixabay (2)