Revenge Porn Now Recognised As Abuse, By Blogger

Revenge porn is sexually explicit media that is distributed without the consent of the individual(s) involved. In the wake of civil lawsuits, legislation has been passed in various countries and jurisdictions to criminalize this practice as well as to define it.

The term "revenge porn" is generally used to indicate content uploaded by intimate partners with the intention of humiliating the partner depicted (hence "revenge" when uploaded by an ex-partner). The term is also often misused to describe non 'revenge' scenarios, including nonconsensual pornography distributed by hackers or by individuals seeking profit or notoriety. The images are usually accompanied by sufficient information to identify the pictured individual, typically their name and location, and can include links to social media profiles, home addresses and workplaces.

Victims' lives can be ruined as a result, the victims exposed to cyber-stalking and physical attack as well as facing difficulties in their workplace should their images become known as a result of routine checks by employers. Some have lost their jobs, while others have been unable to find work at all. Copyright law cannot help if the person who publishes the image also made it.

Jurisdictions which have passed laws against revenge porn include Israel, Germany, the United Kingdom, and twenty-three states within the United States

Recently, Google publicised advice about a new type of abuse that may be reportable, when present in a Blogger blog.

Our philosophy has always been that Search should reflect the whole web. But revenge porn images are intensely personal and emotionally damaging, and serve only to degrade the victims—predominantly women. So going forward, we’ll honor requests from people to remove nude or sexually explicit images shared without their consent from Google Search results. This is a narrow and limited policy, similar to how we treat removal requests for other highly sensitive personal information, such as bank account numbers and signatures, that may surface in our search results.Supposedly, "revenge porn" mitigation is limited to removal from Google Search. In one forum discussion, however, the new classification appears to have successfully resulted in an offensive blog being removed from Blogger.

It appears that "revenge porn" is now part of the "Remove information from Google" reporting process.

You may use the "Remove information ..." form, to report "revenge porn".
If you are offended by a Blogger blog - and if the contents of the blog reflect the description
nude or sexually explicit images shared without their consent.

You may use the "Remove information from Google" form, to cite malicious blog content.

Please be aware that these reports will be evaluated carefully.
Please consider reality, however. Since this is a new abuse category, any reports most likely will be evaluated very carefully by the staff who process the complaints.

Don't try to stretch the definition, by what you "believe", or what might be considered the case, in extreme circumstances. Submit a complaint, only when the complaint fits the definition of the new abuse category.

Do the right thing, and report "revenge porn" only when it is righteous.

Unlike bogus DMCA complaints, I don't see any suggestion of any penalties for malicious misuse of the form. However, if you intentionally misuse this new abuse category, consider that your doing so may make one of the legal staff spend time evaluating your complaint, while another, genuinely worthy complaint may wait, unattended.

Do the right thing - and only cite the new category when it is, honestly, necessary.

Peace & tolerance

H