Today the Massachusetts State House of Representatives unanimously passed Bill 4241 entitled An Act to Prevent Abuse and Exploitation.
If enacted into law, the proposed legislation would make it a crime to share nude or partially nude photos of a person without his or her consent.
The key language of the bill states
Whoever knowingly distributes visual material depicting another person, either identifiable in the visual material or identified by the distributing person, who is nude, partially nude or engaged in sexual conduct, when the distribution causes physical or economic injury or substantial emotional distress to the person depicted in the visual material, and does so (i) with the intent to harm, harass, intimidate, threaten, coerce or cause substantial emotional distress, or (ii) with reckless disregard for the depicted person’s lack of consent to the distribution of the visual material and reasonable expectation that the visual material would remain private, shall be guilty of the crime of criminal harassment and shall be punished by imprisonment in a house of correction for not more than 2½ years, by a fine of not more than $10,000, or by both such fine and imprisonment
The penalty for subsequent offenses increases to up to 10 years in state prision and/or a $15,000 fine.
The bill also provides for school educational programs, run by the state, that discuss the legal and emotional hazards of sharing explicit photos and messages through social media.
To read the full text of the bill, click the document below:
Law Office of Justin R. McCarthy 