To: The Honorable Pam Bondi, Attorney General of Florida
Protect Women from "Revenge Porn": Amend Florida Cyberstalking Laws
We, your Florida constituents, are writing to you to request amendment of legislation to protect women from Revenge Porn, an act of harassment characterized by unauthorized online publication of a woman’s intimate photos.
Current Florida legislation does not protect women from this harassment because of two loopholes in our cyberstalking laws.
According to Florida law, cyberstalking means “to engage in a course of conduct to communicate or to cause to be communicated, words, images, or language by or through the use of electronic mail or electronic communication, directed at a specific person, causing substantial emotional distress to that person and serving no legitimate purpose.”
“Course of conduct” means “a pattern of conduct composed of a series of acts over a period of time, however short, evidencing a continuity of purpose.”
Unfortunately, since the act of publication of a woman’s intimate photos is not “directed at” a specific person, and one time publication is not a “series of acts,” current legislation does not define “Revenge Porn” as harassment.
But it is.
When a woman clearly protests the publication of her intimate photos, the perpetrator’s act of publication, though not directly communicated to her, is clearly intended to harass and degrade her. This act of publication, though happening just one time, can devastate a woman for the rest of her life. It is continuous harassment played out for the whole world to see.
The publication of these intimate photos, which includes a woman’s face, name, and social media accounts, demeans and humiliates women everywhere. It affects their jobs, their family, their emotional health, and, most importantly, their reputation. While they suffer in silence and powerlessness, their perpetrator, often a scorned ex-lover, is at peace, knowing that he will never suffer consequences for his actions.
And now, in a sicker, new way to degrade their victims, perpetrators are preparing to launch a geo mapping feature that provides detailed directions to a victim’s house in order to encourage stalking of her.
That is why we - families and friends of revenge porn victims – urgently petition you for amendment of Florida cyberstalking statutes or enactment of a Florida invasion of privacy statute that criminalizes the unauthorized publication of intimate photos.
The state of New Jersey has an enacted such as statute. It reads as follows:
An actor commits a crime of the third degree if, knowing that he is not licensed or privileged to do so, he discloses any photograph, film, videotape, recording or any other reproduction of the image of another person whose intimate parts are exposed or who is engaged in an act of sexual penetration or sexual contact, unless that person has consented to such disclosure. For purposes of this subsection, "disclose" means sell, manufacture, give, provide, lend, trade, mail, deliver, transfer, publish, distribute, circulate, disseminate, present, exhibit, advertise or offer.
N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2C:14-9
Please help us to protect the women we love.
Thank you so much for your time and all that you do to support the causes of women.
Respectfully,
WomenAgainstRevengePorn.com
To sign Florida's petition, click here.