In her Ted Talk How revenge porn turns upside down Darieth Chisolm describes her experience with revenge porn, how she's working to help victims and outlines the current legal measures aimed at punishing those who commit these crimes.
Before she was set to deliver a talk, Chisolm received a call from her ex-husband. He alerted her that a man called him and instructed him to go to his website that was full of naked photos of her. Chisolm's ex-boyfriend had taken several explicit photos of her while she was asleep and posted them online under a website with her name without her consent. While the media calls an act like this "revenge porn," Chislom now refers to this as "digital domestic violence.""Digital domestic violence," as she describes it, typically stems from a relationship in which an ex-lover cannot physically put their hands on a victim so they resort to posting photos, videos, explicit information and content online without consent.
Chisolm details that one in twenty-five women say they have been impacted by revenge porn. For women under the age in thirty, that number decreases to one in ten. As much as those statistics are alarming, what's worse is the lack of legislation and laws to adequately protect victims and punish the perpetrators. There is only one federal bill pending regarding revenge porn. The ENOUGH Act by V.P. Kamala Harris would criminalize revenge porn, however that could take years to pass. Presently, the only punishment is civil misdemeanors. It's expensive, complicated, and confusing for women to get protection from cyberstalking and cyber abuse. Legal loopholes and jurisdictional issues dragged out Chisolm's case all while her private photos were on display. She eventually found a private company that issued a Digital Millennium Copyright Act notice that shut the website down. Chisolm's boyfriend was living in another country and there were no policies in place to protect victims regardless of boarders. She shared her cell phone and laptop with the Department of Homeland Security and the Jamaican Embassy three times for thorough forensic investigation. Jamaican authorities actually arrested the perpetrator and he is now facing charges under their Malicious Communications Act, and if found guilty, could face thousands of dollars in fines and up to ten years in prison. Chisolm learned her case is making history as the first international case under this new crime.
Although Chisolm received justice, it was not an easy feat. She argues our cyber civil rights are at stake. We must demand the accountability and responsiveness from online companies as well as restore dignity to victims. She is working to film an upcoming documentary entitles "50 Shades of Silence" to give voice and dignity to victims.
The issues discussed in this TED talk affect me because this story could truly happen to any of us. The statistics shared by Chisolm made me wonder if any of my friends are suffering through similar situations in silence.
In the United States, the government must do something about these issues. Nobody deserves to be humiliated all while jumping through legal hoops. The government needs to demand accountability and punish those who share content without consent, even without the intent to do harm.
In this instance, how much can we do to protect ourselves from invasions of our privacy? We should not shame those who send content that is maliciously leaked, rather shame on those for shaming them.
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