Nassau County being urged to enact revenge porn law

Stressing the corrosive nature and permanence of revenge porn, Nassau Democratic lawmakers joined the police commissioner and victim advocates on Tuesday to urge the Republican-led legislature to outlaw it.

The law has not kept up with the way the internet has vastly expanded the consequences when a couple breaks up, allowing a malicious ex-partner to humiliate and grievously harm the other person by posting nude or graphic pictures, they said.

In a matter of keystrokes, profound physical, mental, emotional and financial pain can be caused, Legis. Arnold Drucker (D-Plainview) and Debra Mulé (D-Freeport) said in a joint statement.

Nassau District Attorney Madeline Singas stressed that once the photos were posted — without the other person’s consent — they could never fully be erased.

“This is a tremendous power and domestic abusers use it to control their victims," Singas said.

Francis X. Moroney, spokesman for the GOP Nassau legislators, in a statement said: “The Majority agrees with the sentiment of the proposed legislation, which is now under review. Our concern is whether or not this should be done on a statewide basis rather than by Nassau County.”

Although Suffolk County and New York City have enacted laws making revenge porn a crime, the state has not. “That’s wrong,” Singas said.

“Throughout his administration, Governor Cuomo has fiercely championed policies to combat sexual violence and empower survivors, and this year the governor is again advancing a statewide solution to outlaw revenge porn as part of the Women’s Agenda,” Hazel Crampton-Hays, Cuomo spokeswoman, said in a statement.

Both the State Senate and Assembly — now both led by Democrats — are considering bills after previous initiatives stalled.

“We always want to make sure people are safe and, of course, we will discuss it with our members,” an Assembly spokesman for the Democratic speaker said.

“This is something we will be discussing and we are hopeful we can move it forward quickly,” a Senate spokesman for the Democratic majority leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, said.

If enacted, Nassau’s bill would classify revenge porn as a misdemeanor, punishable by a $1,000 fine and up to a year in prison.

Moreover, the legislators said, it would free victims to seek redress via lawsuits.

Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said the law was needed to shield people‘s privacy: “The Nassau County Police Department supports the enactment of any law that will protect individuals from harassment, coercion or bullying through the dissemination of intimate images.”

Teens and young women might be the typical victims of this cyber revenge, the experts said, but older individuals, both men and women, also can be victimized by this method that strikes so deeply at their identity, emotional and physical well-being, job prospects and careers.

"As a social worker and a mother of young adult daughters, I am keenly aware of the havoc that is unleashed when intimate images are maliciously distributed,” Mulé said.

The Safe Center, an advocacy group in Bethpage, cited the suicide of Audrie Pott eight days after she was assaulted while unconscious and photographs were circulated via social media at her high school in Saratoga, California. This spurred the state to criminalize revenge porn. 

Drucker said Nassau’s bill would not infringe on free speech — a concern seen in some legislative battles over revenge porn.

“The focus of this statute is on intent, intent to hurt someone, intent to cause damage to a person or their family.”