Revenge porn or consent and privacy: An analysis of the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015

Abstract

In response to the growing concern around the use of new technology to cause harm, Parliament passed the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015. On target of the Act was the phenomenon of revenge porn, the non-consensual publication of intimate images. This paper analyses the amendments to pre-existing legislation and the new civil and criminal provisions created under the Act. This paper argues that the Act fails to provide adequate protection to victims of revenge porn. In critiquing the Act, this paper looks at the harm that is caused to victims of revenge porn and the gap within the pre-existing law that resulted in inadequate protection. This paper concludes that the Harmful Digital Communications Act does not effectively address the harm of revenge porn or bridge the gap left by the previous law. The failure to enact specific legislation, to target the non-consensual publication of intimate material, has resulted in an ineffective law in relation to revenge porn. In order to address the invasion of privacy and violation of consent, the provision should be founded on an expectation of privacy in the intimate content rather than the context or place in which it was taken.