The recently-enacted Arizona “anti-revenge porn” law to ban sharing nude photos without permission has come under fired by the media, rights groups, publishers and librarians. The critics claim it is overbroad and would criminalize such common exchanges of photos as those of babies or of women breast feeding commonly used for educational purposes. (Wired, September 23, 2014, by Kim Zetter)
The ACLU pinpoints how the Arizona law violates the First Amendment: “A prosecutor need not demonstrate that a person had an expectation of privacy in an image before charging you with a crime for sharing it. And the law applies equally to a private person’s hacked naked photo and a beautiful nude at a photography exhibit — because the law’s breadth encompasses truly newsworthy, artistic, and historical images. As a result, the nude photo law creates bizarre and troubling burdens on speech fully protected by the First Amendment.” (American Civil Liberties Union, September 23, 2014, by Lee Rowland)
A Texas appeals court recently struck down the state’s “improper photography” law restricting photos of people without their consent and with the intent to cater to sexual desires. The court ruled that the law would intrude on the freedom to hold private thoughts. While finding that bans on unsolicited photos in private places such a bathrooms or dressing rooms or in private houses or taking photos under a person’s clothing would be constitutional, a broad ban on taking photos of nude parts of bodies displayed voluntarily in public is unconstitutional. (Volokh Conspiracy in The Washington Post, September 18, 2014, by Eugene Volokh)
One Comment
Definitely over the top, in our opinion, although the justice system really can never win.
This law will both protect and frustrate many, but in all honesty it’s one we probably never needed to see. If you don’t want to risk things like this – don’t allow a partner, etc. to take them in the first place.
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