You’re young and foolish. Or maybe just in love — at any age.
Your partner asks you to send some photographs. Racy photographs – nude photographs.
And why not? We almost all carry around smart phones, the constant means for high-quality photos that can be sent with little more than a tap of the finger.
It’s a little racy — erotic, even.
And you’re in love.
Or maybe it’s not that simple; maybe you feel pressured to do it, not completely onside with the idea, but you just don’t feel like you can say no. Your partner asks and asks — begs, even. So you give in.
It’s all right, though; your partner says no one will ever see the photographs, and you trust in that. They only want the images — or the video — for themselves.
But things change.
Maybe they’re not so trustworthy.
Or maybe your relationship breaks down bitterly, and your naked pictures, like everything else in a failed relationship, runs the risk of being weaponized.
It’s awful and it’s embarrassing — and you tell yourself over and over again that you should have known better in the first place. The truth is, though, you’re not the one who has done anything wrong.
Maybe your partner is so bitter and small that when you pick up the pieces and try to move on with your life, they threaten to post those pictures on the internet. Maybe they use those threats to try and coerce you to come back to them.
It’s awful and it’s embarrassing — and you tell yourself over and over again that you should have known better in the first place. The truth is, though, you’re not the one who has done anything wrong.
You’re the one who’s been wronged.
With new legislation, the provincial government is taking extra steps to make that perfectly clear.
There are already federal criminal laws about improperly sharing private images — so-called “revenge porn” laws. There have been six convictions under those laws already this year in this province.
But the provincial legislation, promised in the spring, allows people to sue anyone who shares the private images for damages in civil court.
The legislation has a crucial and forward-looking part: when a suit is launched, the victim doesn’t have to prove that they didn’t consent to the image being shared; the person who shares it has to prove that they did have consent.
And that could be pretty darned hard to do, unless you happen to have something like a signed release in your pocket.
The end result?
If you decide to “punish” a former partner by sharing their naked or compromising images on the internet for all to see, you could not only go to jail, but be ordered to pay whatever damages the court sees fit. It will probably never be enough money to undo the callous and cruel damage done.
But it might make some people think a little before they act.
Sometimes, the only way to get a message across is by targeting someone’s wallet.
