One arrested for cyberbullying Hanan Hamid- The New Indian Express

  A Texas appeals court last week ruled that the US state’s Relationship Privacy Act, which prohibits the disclosure or promotion of intimate images without the consent of those depicted, is unconstitutional. Enacted in 2015, the Texas law was intended as a way to stop what’s known as revenge porn, in which a person discloses intimate sexual images, online or otherwise, to cause harm and embarrassment to another person. The law covered images to those taken under circumstances when the depicted person had a reasonable expectation that the material would remain private. It’s one of 38 state laws that have been enacted in the US to combat revenge porn, also referred to as nonconsensual distribution of pornographic images because the perpetrator’s motivation – revenge or otherwise – wouldn’t mitigate the act. In its consideration of an appeal by defendant Jordan Bartlett Jones, accused in a civil complaint last year of…

  A film centering on the devastating effect of online harassment against women premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival this week. Called “Netizens,” the documentary examines the day-to-day impact various forms of online abuse, ranging from online mob harassment to “revenge porn,” have on people’s lives. “Revenge porn,” also known as nonconsensual pornography, is the growing phenomenon of having one’s intimate photos and videos spread online to shame someone or ruin their reputation. One in eight American social media users has been a target of nonconsensual pornography, according to a 2017 study conducted by the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative. Moreover, while men and women are both victims of online harassment, women are much more likely to receive sexualized forms of online abuse, according to the Pew Research Center. “Netizens,” directed and produced by Cynthia Lowen, follows the personal stories of three women — attorney Carrie Goldberg, game developer Anita Sarkeesian,…

  Discord’s somewhat recent policy regarding not safe for work (NSFW) content, which often includes pornographic images or cartoons, has some gaming communities concerned about future sudden changes. Recent controversy sprung up after one popular, partnered Discord server dedicated to Final Fantasy XIV was issued a warning for an NSFW channel and lost its partner status as a result. Server members were reportedly sharing lolicon, a specific type of cartoon subgenre that depicts young girls participating in erotic acts or lewd behavior, and received a warning from Discord administrators. The email, which was uploaded to Reddit by user Eanae, instructed the Final Fantasy XIV server admins to remove the channel, as it violated the company’s terms of service for sharing digitally altered pornography that depicts minors. The server would be deleted otherwise. Eanae said they took action, but Discord refused to give them back their partner status. Partner status helps…

  Surat: Two separate cases of women being blackmailed and harassed by men through social media have been registered with the city police on Monday. In one complaint, the accused made abusive comments on the woman’s Facebook page to defame her. In the other case, the accused issued threats to share the photos of the woman on social media if he was not paid money. Tushar Patel, a resident in Parvat Patiya, was booked at Puna police station for making abusive comments on Facebook page to defame the complainant woman and her mother. The accused was booked for harassment and also under the Sections of the Information Technology Act. The woman alleged in her complaint that the accused made the comments to tarnish her image with the intention to break her engagement. The complainant had recently got engaged to a man according to the wish of her family. The woman…

  Victims of revenge porn are being asked to share their stories with North Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, as part of a campaign to close a ‘legal loophole’ in order to help protect their identities. Julia Mulligan has today launched an anonymous survey to gather evidence and bolster her efforts to see Image Based Sexual Abuse, or ‘Revenge Porn’, reclassified from a communications offence to a sexual offence. One in three allegations since 2015 are believed to have been withdrawn, according to a Freedom of Information requests noted by the NYPCC. It is believed this is often due to the lack of anonymity under the current classification of victim’s identities, and the distress this causes. Mrs Mulligan said: “The law on revenge porn is fundamentally flawed. It needs to change and this survey will provide me with more evidence in my campaign to ensure the legal loophole is closed…

  “Just because the victim is a man and the suspect is a woman this time, the country is investigating the case differently,” wrote one petitioner, according to the JoongAng daily. “Remember the cases of women who were victims of hidden camera crimes and went to the police for help?” wrote another. “They would be told, ‘Well you had it coming to you, because you didn’t dress modestly’ or ‘We can’t catch the culprit. It’s too hard’.” For years, South Korean women have been victims of what was described by the Korea Expose website as a “spy-cam porn epidemic”. They have been secretly filmed in public bathrooms, changing rooms, or a camera has been pointed up their skirt on an escalator, and the footage is then posted online. In 2016, the police closed down Soranet, one of the most notorious websites for hidden camera footage of female body parts, and…

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — The attorney of former state Sen. Nicholas Kettle believes the case against his client was mishandled because the man who accused him of extorting sex and blackmail is related to a state trooper. The extortion charges against Kettle was dropped this week after the new evidence was filed in the case, including Facebook messages between him and his accuser spanning three years that showed a friendship, according to DiMaio. “The tone [of the messages] is completely opposite of what he was testifying to,” DiMaio added. Kettle was charged with two counts of extortion and blackmail after he was accused of extorting sex from a male page at the Rhode Island State House. DiMaio said then-Attorney General Peter Kilmartin didn’t properly examine the case, which changed in January after the current attorney general, Peter Neronha, took over and gave the case a fresh look. According to DiMaio,…

  The next time you see a seven or eight-year-old with their head bent over a device, think again before you marvel at their expertise in gaming or discovering the right app for YouTube. These kids are also potential victims to the cyberbullies that stalk the internet. Cyberbullying is being cruel to others by sending or posting harmful material using a cell phone or the internet. Cyber bullying can boast that it is more widespread than traditional bullying forms and is more perilous, as it violates a person’s privacy and sense of well-being. Cyber bullies are often motivated by the anger, revenge and an indefatigable hunger to target people usually weaker than them. The Year of Zayed espouses respect – a value, when implemented by people in a community or society, aids them in accepting people of different compositions. Our late Founding Father, Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, promoted…

  Mischa Barton sat down with Amanda Knox in a new interview and talked about the moment she realized her ex-boyfriend sold pornographic videos of her online. Last year, The OC alum discovered a man she once dated secretly recorded their sexual interactions and then tried to sell the tapes to companies for $500,000. According to the actress, he took photos and videos of her and she had no idea. The small-screen star went to court and obtained several different restraining orders against him and another man. Reportedly, another man she dated was involved, and the court granted Mischa the right to privacy. The judge stated the two men were legally barred from distributing the images, and if they did, it would be a massive charge, and maybe even jail time. Amanda, who spent four years in an Italian prison for supposedly murdering her roommate in 2007, but was exonerated…

  Last November, Australian media reported that Facebook was experimenting with a novel idea to combat revenge porn on its platforms. In a pilot program done in cooperation with the government, users would do something that feels ill advised: upload a nude image to Facebook. The idea was that by doing so, Facebook could preempt that specific image from being uploaded to the platform by someone else in the future through technology that can help identify duplicates. The program sparked backlash among Facebook observers and internet users. One cybersecurity expert told Quartz at the time that it was a “horrible idea,” questioning the wisdom of giving such sensitive information to a third party—a sentiment hard to shake after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which revealed just how unsafe user data was on Facebook. Despite the criticism, on May 22, Facebook announced that it was expanding the tests to the US, UK,…

Getty Images Facebook, Twitter and Google aren’t prepared for deepfakes ahead of the US presidential election, a top Congressman said after the tech giants sent letters last week about how they deal with high-tech doctored videos and other kinds of media manipulation. The companies “have begun thinking seriously” about the challenges, said Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, but it’s their responsibility to prevent their platforms from being weaponized.  “It’s clear they are far from ready to accomplish that,” Schiff said in a statement.  Deepfakes are sophisticated video forgeries, created automatically by artificial intelligence, that can make people appear to be doing or saying things they never did. Though computer manipulation of video has existed for decades, artificial intelligence is making deepfakes and other so-called synthetic media more accessible and harder to detect. The companies — YouTube-owner Google, Facebook and Twitter — all responded in letters dated Wednesday to questions Schiff sent them…

 HAGERSTOWN, Md. - Cyberbullying is an ongoing issue for many young people but a phone company is working to stop it with the #LaterHater campaign. So many young people silently struggle with cyberbullying, whether it is on social media or video games; However, Billie Bertier, who is in college to become a student counselor, says staying silent is the worst thing to do. “Talk to anyone. You could talk to a friend. Talk to friend’s parent. It doesn’t always have to be your parents. I know a lot of students are scared to talk to their parents about these types of situations but talk to anyone and they will be able to help you,” Bertier said. Back in 2016, AT&T launched their later-hater website to provide another outlet to those dealing with cyber-bullies. The site offers counseling and tips for victims. “A lot of the kids, they are not…

Saskatchewan Provincial Court in Prince Albert. Herald File Photo A judge ordered a local man to pay $30,500 to his ex-girlfriend, as restitution for posting nude photos of her on the internet. The 25-year-old man, who cannot be named for fear of identifying the victim, pleaded guilty to publishing intimate images without consent. He appeared in Prince Albert’s provincial courthouse on Monday, where Judge Matsalla also sentenced him to two years probation. “The effect on the complainant is profound,” Matsalla said. “In this case the harm will be ongoing and may continue for a long period of time.” He said he was convinced that the photos were posted out of “revenge.” The man and the victim were both 18 years old, and dating, when he took 10 intimate photos of her. They broke up months later, and he posted the photos online. They soon spread to a number of websites….

  Pressure is mounting on the government to tighten the laws around revenge porn, which could result in the most serious culprits jailed for more than two years and put on the sex offenders register. Senior Conservative MP Maria Miller is seeking to amend the new upskirting bill to cover the nonconsensual sharing of explicit images and videos online, and other image-based crimes that “make women’s lives hell”. Revenge porn was made a criminal offence in 2015 and carries a sentence of up to two years in prison, but the former cabinet minister wants to make it a specific sexual offence that would offer anonymity to victims and longer sentences. It comes as the issue hit the headlines when Zara McDermott, a former government adviser, and Laura Anderson, an air stewardess, reportedly had intimate images and videos shared online while appearing in Love Island, the popular reality TV show. Ms Miller, who chairs the Women and Equalities Committee, told The Independent that the law needed to change as many people regarded revenge porn as “stupid…

  Four years after a Californian woman sued her ex-boyfriend for posting sexually explicit photographs and videos of her online, she has been awarded $6.4 million (R80 million) in one the largest judgments of its kind. According to the the New York Times, shortly after a California woman and her boyfriend ended their relationship in 2013, he began to post sexual photographs and videos of her on pornography websites and to impersonate her in online dating forums, according to court documents. However, despite the victim’s eventual success, the case highlights the complexities of the law in this area which (like many other areas of law) lags behind technology, according to Kerri Crawford, senior associate at Norton Rose Fulbright South Africa. “Causes of action that spring to mind in these cases rely on laws aimed at combatting invasion of privacy, harassment, online abuse and in some instances, specific prohibitions against sharing intimate…