'Revenge porn' law passes in UK

A "revenge porn" law banning people from sharing sexual images of their former partners online without their consent has been passed in England and Wales.

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A new law banning "revenge porn" - sexually explicit images shared online by a former partner without their ex's consent - has been passed in England and Wales.

The law was passed on Thursday and covers images shared on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter as well as those spread by SMS, email and online.

The justice ministry said the new law applies to "photographs or films which show people engaged in sexual activity or depicted in a sexual way or with their genitals exposed".

People convicted of sharing "revenge porn" face up to two years in prison.

"It's a start," said Laura Higgins from the UK Safer Internet Centre, which manages a revenge porn helpline.

"It's a very big problem. For every case that we deal with, we find dozens of other people's profiles who probably don't know that they're online yet," she said.

"I think in the last 18 months there has been a real increase in this sort of behaviour".

The devolved governments in Scotland and Northern Ireland, which have responsibility for justice matters, are also looking at introducing similar laws.


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Source: AAP

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'Revenge porn' law passes in UK | SBS News