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THE PROBLEMS AROUND laws to do with posting explicit images of people on the internet have been brought into sharp focus this week.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Seán O’Rourke, a woman called Jane outlined how she discovered that an ex-boyfriend had posted sexually explicit images of her online and a video of them having sex after they had broken up.
The images had been online for year before Jane knew – and when she contacted the gardaí about the images they said there was nothing they could do because of the lack of legislation around the issue.
“The garda I was dealing with said, ‘Jane I’m really sorry. It turns out it’s not illegal. We can’t actually do anything’,” Jane said.
Harassment laws in Ireland
The laws covering so-called “revenge porn” in Ireland – the posting of sexually explicit images of a person online without their consent – are not fully formed.
However, a 2014 Law Reform Commission Issue Paper outlines the problems around laws to do with the broader issue of cyber-bullying.
Cyber-bullying falls under the heading of harassment, which is legislated for in Section 10 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act (1997).
Section 10 states:
(1) Any person who, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, by any means including by use of the telephone, harasses another by persistently following, watching, pestering, besetting or communicating with him or her, shall be guilty of an offence.
The main point here is that harassment of another person must be persistent, and can be carried out by any means of communication.
This means, for example, that someone sending repeated emails to a person abusing them can be convicted of harassment.
However, with regards to posting “revenge porn” the situation isn’t as clear.
Why isn’t ‘revenge porn’ illegal?
In Jane’s case, for example, her ex-partner posted explicit images of her online without her consent.
However, this action doesn’t fall under the legal definition of “persistent” harassment; this is true in other cases also, where a single act of uploading an image of a person doesn’t legally constitute harassment.
In an article for the Law Society Gazette, barrister Stephen Fitzpatrick outlined the problems this posed for victims of ‘revenge porn’.
“Unlike in other jurisdictions, the Irish offence of harassment requires that the behaviour be performed ‘persistently’,” Fitzpatrick wrote.
This potentially excludes the majority of revenge porn cases, as most involve a single act or spree of uploading.
In its Issue Report, the Law Reform Commission states that the laws may be too narrow for dealing with the specific problems to do with cyber-bullying.
While an image or video posted on the internet could be spread and copied thousands of times, the person who originally uploads it only needs to do so once – and this single act does not constitute “persistent harassment” and may not be technically illegal in this sense.
While there are other laws to do with data protection that the posting of images online may breach – the legislation around cyber-bullying isn’t fully developed.
For children there are stronger protections in place for privacy of images, however for adults the situation is not as clear cut.
So what can be done?
Other countries have already put forward laws to tackle ‘revenge porn’.
After a number of highly-publicised incidents of images of women being disseminated on the internet, England included a provision in its Criminal Justice Bill 2015 making it a specific crime.
Canada, parts of the United States, Japan and others all have specific laws to do with making the posting of ‘revenge porn’ a criminal offence.
In Ireland, the Law Reform Commission is planning a fully-comprehensive paper on the matter which is expected to be presented to government some time this year.
The Law Reform Commission reviews existing laws and presents recommendations for new laws to government which it may or may not accept.
This will provide a basis for changing the laws.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Fitzpatrick said that the Law Reform Commission report should deal with the subject well and be “very comprehensive”.
“The Law Reform Commission are going to be doing a paper on [the laws]… their papers are normally excellent and normally very comprehensive,” he said.
Given their past papers I expect what they come out with to be really well thought out.
Women’s Aid – an advocacy organisation for women facing abuse – is campaigning for the 1997 harassment act to be updated.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, its director Margaret Martin said that laws around harassment and cyber-bullying needed to be “brought into the 21st century”.
“The legislation is quite outdated,” said Martin.
It’s very limited and in many cases it doesn’t work.
For a person whose images are posted online – trying to get them taken down can be very problematic, she said.
Martin said that as well as stronger criminal laws, better protections also need to be put in place to help people deal with websites that contain the images of a person.
This view is echoed by Fitzpatrick, who said that while dealing with the criminal aspect of harassment is important, it is also important to focus on the civil aspect of cases, so that people have an easier way to remove the images once they have been posted.
As things stand now, a person may have to go through a lengthy and costly court battle to have the images removed – which can be highly traumatic.
“In many cases… people will want a civil option,” said Fitzpatrick, noting that prosecuting the original offender will not remove the image from online if it has been shared widely.
By this view, updating the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act (1997) will not do enough to protect people who have been victims of ‘revenge porn’.
Martin agrees that the issue is complex and much needs to be addressed in the laws.
“For an awful lot of women having images of themselves online can be hugely damaging for them,” she said.
“These are the problems and there needs to be an answer to these issues.
Everyone accepts that these things are complex and will take time to get through… We would hope that it would start to progress as it’s certainly a very live issue.
Have you ever been a victim of ‘revenge porn’? If you would like to share your experience (with full anonymity) please email cormac@thejournal.ie or tips@thejournal.ie
Women’s Aid also have guidelines on their website for what to do if you’ve ever been a victim of ‘revenge porn’.
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It is high time that everyone, absolutely everyone in society recognise that Mná na hÉireann hold up half the sky.
What are our gardai doing to protect our women from violent individuals as this
Our gardai need more resources and manpower this is happening to much in our society
@Richarddoherty: We need whole scale reform of our justice laws in general where dangerous individuals don’t get freed on bail as soon as they commit crimes and when they do get to court, that they don’t get away with lenient sentences. How often have we seen perpetrators of violent acts such as this having multiple previous convictions, yet free to go about their business? This horrific murder should be the impetus for real change where people are not afraid to walk or run alone on our roads and streets. Yes bring in education from an early age, but unfortunately it won’t have an immediate effect if nothing else is done in addition to it.
@Richarddoherty: do you know something nobody else does?
@Richarddoherty: the Gardaí can’t be everywhere. They aren’t the problem, it’s happening too much because of men thinking they can assault and harrass women whenever they feel like it. Women should be able to go for a run, or a walk, or do whatever the hell they want without feeling unsafe or like they might need the help of a guard.
@Longlin: Sherlock Longlin’s cracked it already. Rounded up all the usual suspects and waterboarded them until a couple confessed. Next.
@Richarddoherty: Can you tell Michael Tormeys family that he doesn’t matter and the Garda should be doing more to protect women.
@Sam Harms: because there aren’t enough of them. I live in southern Spain and have never driven more than 20 minutes without seeing a police car. I lived 50 years in Ireland and saw no more than 25 check points. I drove at least 50 miles a day
@Ian James Burgess: more guards isn’t going to stop men assaulting women. The only thing that can stop that is a change in attitude. More guards isn’t going to stop men shouting and whistling at women walking down the street, or grabbing them in a bar. We shouldn’t need a guard on every street to make us feel safe.
@Sam Harms: You are mixing up men who show disrespect to women and men who murder women. They are two very different things. Men who murder women have serious mental health issues. Usually, this come from childhood abuse of some form. Google any physco killer and look at their background. If I was with Charles Mason in a bar and he said some derogatory about a woman, me calling him up on it was never going to stop him killing women. He killed women because his mother sold him for beer. Its mental health services and better sentencing that needs to be looked at, don’t be blaming millions of innocent men. If a woman kills her children in her own home do people say, women do better? They certainly do not, there would be uproar. they would say why didn’t she get the help she needed.
@Fandandi: and by the way, I’m not saying men shouldn’t do better in terms of respecting women in general, that needs to happen, I’m saying it won’t stop random killings on any gender
@Richarddoherty: can you imagine being a Guard. Arrest a t.h.u.g. for the 50th time. Go to court. Solicitor appointed for free legal aid. Solicitor presents a case the poor individual has had it tough… soft or suspended sentence… utterly deflating for the Gaurd.
May she rest in peace
I couldn’t make a vigil today, but there in spirit. Absolutely heartbreaking stuff. I’m glad the country showed up. I hope the all those who need to hear it and who think everyday cat calling and harassment or stand by silently as their mates do it. are listening carefully. Their time is up. We need action on every front now – 14% of rapes in Ireland make it to court – 14% of women have faced violence in the home. The women of Ireland are angry, scared and exhausted. When will it change?
@Lucy Legacy: There are vigils being held across the country tomorrow: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2714251528881837&id=1808278706145795
@Lucy Legacy: why do people feel the need to create a divide between the genders? The women of Ireland are angry etc etc. You think the 99% of men in Ireland who would never even consider hurting a woman aren’t also disgusted with what happened? Do people think it’s helpful to casually pass blame onto someone because of their gender?
@Stephen Foster: this attitude by the keyboard warriors on their high horses has ensured a man’s life has been wrecked because of the level of ineptitude by the Gardai regarding the questioning of an innocent person. People are so willing to hate an individual or element of society if it seems everyone else is. Gotta love groupthink.
@Stephen Foster: The known figures of how many women (children, and vulnerable others) have been harassed, (sexually) assaulted, and murdered clearly shows it is not “99% of men in Ireland who would never consider hurting a woman”. The actual real figure is too uncomfortable for people, because then they would have to own their (past) behaviour and/or the actions of those they thought they could trust.
@Felicity Hensen: what is the real figure ?
@Stephen Foster: exactly my son was attacked randomly had his face slashed guards didn’t entertain it but if he was female would more have been done devastated over what happened this poor lady and hope her killer will be got but I fear with this outpour against violence against women what’s going to happen if a woman feels uncomfortable because my son looked the wrong way innocently and he gets hauled in our younger generation of boys will be terrified to approach a woman to ask her out on a date
@Felicity Hensen: no parent should lose their child to murder no matter what gender they are no child should be murdered no woman should be murdered no man should be murdered it’s all over the board and I’m actually sick over this beautiful lady been murdered but it actually happens every day in this country and gender
dosent matter
@Felicity Hensen: what is the figure felicity and what are you saying.
@Felicity Hensen: you cannot conflate wolf whistling with murder. These are two separate issues.
Typical f journal no comment s allowed on the government ill make sure the real voters know what the journal are at
Was an emotional evening in Ennischrone Co sligo. A huge thank you to the local business that supported the vigil like pudding row easky, Joe queenan local council representative, waterfront restaurant ennischrone, EK photocare ballina, Blooms and Things Florists ballina, David McGowan funeral director, Karina hallinan, Michael McGowan & Fr Gerry for mass and ballads Claire hannon local resident, Peter regan local resident, local GAA club, enniscrone anglers, Midwest & today fm for advertising on the radio and to everyone who attended. The shrine will be there over the weekend so if your around please keep the candles burning. The book of condolences will be available in ennischrone Church over the weekend for anyone whom couldn’t attend this evening. May she rest in peace
I think it’s pathetic that Sinn Fein are posting footage of vigils for Aishling Murphy and condemning violence against women when they refuse to address the Jean McConville case. Let’s hear from Mary Lou how the IRA murdered a Mother and dumped her body and left the family in torment for decades. The IRA didn’t care about sex when it came to their victims but are now trying to use the sex car by having females leading the party. Would somebody please ask Mary Lou and Michelle O Neill how they can campaign for women’s right knowing what their party has don in the past.
We need to trust women in the running of their safe spaces and stop allowing men to shout them down
They removed my comments, I have never ever seen so much hypocrisy!
Lowest of the low.
You people are not journalists!
have your say