The Government of the United Kingdom has approved a bill that condemns the sending of unsolicited images with sexual content (“cyberflashing”), and imposes the same maximum sentence as indecent exposure: up to two years in prison.
The new regulations will be included in the current online safety bill and applies to sending photos through social networks, dating apps, or even through data sharing protocols such as Bluetooth or Airdrop
More legal responsibility for platforms
“Cyberflashing” or sending images with sexual content is extremely common, and some figures from recent studies suggest that 76% of girls between the ages of 12 and 18 have received unsolicited nude images of men or boys. Other reports show that at least a fifth of adolescent girls and young women in the UK were victims of this abusive practice in the last year alone.
The regulation will also place greater legal responsibility on social networks, search engines and other websites or applications to deal with illegal and harmful content on their services. The next bill on online security will force technology companies to prevent their platforms from being used to commit these acts.
The new law means that “anyone who sends a photo or video of a person’s genitalia, for the purpose of their own sexual gratification or to cause the victim humiliation, alarm or distress, can face up to two years in prison.”
Due to the way it has been proposed, the regulations only cover offenses in which it can be proven that the person sent the image for their own sexual gratification or to cause harm. This has generated criticism for the simple fact that many will hide behind the excuse that they were sent as “a joke between friends”, for which they ask for a “more comprehensive and direct law that is easier to prosecute.”
Via | mixxio