California May Criminalize Blasting Indecent Images of Ex-Lovers

Bad news for vindictive exes in the Golden State: “Revenge porn” may soon become illegal there. A bill, passed by state legislators and awaiting possible approval by the governor, would punish people who post sexual videos or photos of their former partners in an attempt to disgrace them. According to Bloomberg News via Salon:

California, a center of Internet technology, would become the second U.S. state to criminalize the act, though as a misdemeanor. New Jersey considers it a felony.

“People who post or text pictures that are meant to be private as a way to seek revenge are reprehensible,” Senator Anthony Cannella, a Ceres Republican who wrote the bill, said in a statement in June. “Too many have had their lives upended because of an action of another that they trusted.”

Under the measure, distributing sexual images “with the intent to cause serious emotional distress” would carry a fine of as much as $1,000 and as long as six months in jail — even if the pictures were originally taken with consent.

However, the law would apply only to pictures taken by the person who posts them, thus excluding the popular “selfies” (or self-photos) that have been the cause of many a scandal, including the snapshots that led to the demise of Carlos Danger’s (aka Anthony Weiner) political career — twice.

—Posted by Natasha Hakimi