Your longtime girlfriend hooks up with your roommate and you are livid. In a moment of anger and heartbreak, you post a graphic video clip of the sex tape you and she made, label it “My Ex: the Back-Stabbing Bitch” and post it online. This rash action can result in a civil and criminal case, confiscation of your phone and computer and arrest under the new “Revenge Porn” law. Posting “Revenge Porn” online will be a felony for adults and a misdemeanor for those under 18 years of age as of December 1, 2015 in the state of North Carolina.
Revenge Porn refers to the posting of intimate images (breasts with nipple visible, male and female genitalia/pubic area and anal area) for the purposes of harassment or humiliation when the poster of the material knows that the images were disclosed in the context of a personal relationship and with a reasonable expectation of privacy.
A “personal relationship” is defined as: current or former spouses; persons of opposite sex who live together or have lived together; persons who have a child in common; current or former household members and persons of the opposite sex who are in a dating relationship or have been in a dating relationship. For purposes of this subdivision, a dating relationship is one wherein the parties are romantically involved over time and on a continuous basis during the course of the relationship. A casual acquaintance or ordinary fraternization between persons in a business or social context is not a dating relationship. (NCGS 50B‑1(b).)
All the following elements must be proven:
“(1) The person knowingly discloses an image of another person with the intent to do either of the following:
a. Coerce, harass, intimidate, demean, humiliate, or cause financial loss to the depicted person.
b. Cause others to coerce, harass, intimidate, demean, humiliate, or cause financial loss to the depicted person.
(2) The depicted person is identifiable from the disclosed image itself or information offered in connection with the image.
(3) The depicted person’s intimate parts are exposed or the depicted person is engaged in sexual conduct in the disclosed image.
(4) The person discloses the image without the affirmative consent of the depicted person.
(5) The person discloses the image under circumstances such that the person knew or should have known that the depicted person had a reasonable expectation of privacy.” (NCGS§ 14‑190.5A)
This is a complicated law and defenses exist under the First Amendment, statutory exceptions and qualifiers. Please contact me to discuss the specifics of your case.