House lawmakers handed laws Wednesday that goals to crack down on revenge porn, a proposal supporters mentioned updates state legislation to mirror the way in which expertise is used to harass folks within the fashionable period.
The invoice representatives accepted on 151-0 vote would make it unlawful for somebody to unfold nude content material of one other particular person with out permission even when the topic agreed to take the photographs or movies within the first place. The proposal now heads to the Senate for consideration.
Judiciary Committee Co-Chair Rep. Michael Day mentioned the development of expertise has introduced teen sexting and revenge porn, points the House needed to deal with once more this yr “even as we had procedural difficulties getting this over the finish line last term.”
The Stoneham Democrat mentioned sharing express photographs between adults is a authorized alternative some make however when the act is meant to hurt the opposite, that’s the place state legislation must catch up.
“When consent turns to coercion, or an intent to harm the subject of the image or the video, through the non-consensual distribution of it, we’re now dealing with harassment that rises to a criminal level,” he mentioned from the House flooring.
Massachusetts and South Carolina are the one states within the nation that would not have a legislation on revenge porn, and the invoice that cleared the House Wednesday would add language to the state’s current felony harassment legislation to incorporate penalties for the non-consensual sharing of express photographs.
The topic was a precedence for former Gov. Charlie Baker, who lamented on the finish of his time in workplace that the House and Senate couldn’t comply with a remaining model earlier than the 2021-2022 session got here to an in depth regardless that each branches handed their very own proposals that time period.
In one main distinction from what the House handed final session, representatives this yr added “coercive control” to the definition of “abuse” in an effort to have non-physical types of abuse — monetary, technological, or emotional — by household or family members qualify for an abuse prevention order.
Rep. Tram Nguyen, an Andover Democrat who was a authorized companies legal professional earlier than serving as a lawmaker, mentioned she labored with numerous survivors of home violence, sexual assault, and harassment as a lawyer.
Many former purchasers, she mentioned, have been unable to flee controlling companions as a result of courts didn’t acknowledge “insidious forms of abuse” which might be outlined as coercive management.
“’It’s a type of abuse where abusers make their partners feel completely powerless and dependent on them for essential aspects of their lives, including money, immigration status, or even housing,” Nguyen mentioned. “And as a result, survivors of this form of abuse begin to believe that it’s impossible to leave their abusers because they can’t take care of themselves or their children.”
House lawmakers additionally labored in an extension to the statute of limitations for assault and battery on a household or family member, or in opposition to somebody with an lively protecting order, from six to fifteen years.
“It’s critical that we give survivors of domestic violence enough time to escape their perpetrator, to build a supportive and protective network, and feel that they and their loved ones are safe enough to come forward to law enforcement and share the reality of what they’ve endured,” mentioned Rep. Natalie Higgins, a Leominster Democrat.
This session’s invoice addresses teen sexting by creating an academic diversion program to teach teenagers on the implications of sending or posting of express photographs. Minors who share express photographs of themselves or their friends can be diverted into this system as an alternative of being charged with youngster pornography offenses.
Representatives filed 4 amendments to the proposal the House handed Wednesday. Lawmakers withdrew three associated to GPS tampering, on-line sexual exploitation, and a fee to discover sentencing for on-line exploitation.
A profitable modification from Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier would regulate the non-consensual sharing of deep-fake pornography, or computer-generated nude photographs “that would falsely appear to a reasonable person to be an authentic representation of the person depicted.”
Farley-Bouvier mentioned deep-fakes have “really taken hold” due to the expansion of synthetic intelligence.
“We are entering a new phase of exploitation, of AI manipulated digitalized nude photos,” the Pittsfield Democrat mentioned. “This evolving technology has been leading to malicious and exploitive uses of AI.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”