New Zealand's Law Reform Commission recently recommended amendments to the covert filming provisions of the Crimes Act, 1961 Footnote 32 to criminalize the publication of an intimate image by the person who made the image without consent of the person depicted. Several Australian states have enacted various laws which deal with elements of the non-consensual distribution of intimate images, though many of these offences are extensions of the criminal harassment provisions or voyeurism-type offences. That offence prohibits the distribution of photos or videos of nude persons or persons engaging in sexual conduct, unless the person depicted in the photo consents to the distribution. Only the state of New Jersey in the United States has a criminal offence Footnote 31 that addresses this conduct specifically. Legislative Responses to the Non-Consensual Distribution of Intimate Images Comparative International Perspectives The Working Group has also received anecdotal reports that Canadian law enforcement receive complaints about the non consensual distribution of intimate images on a regular basis, but unless the intimate images qualify as child pornography, or are accompanied by additional aggravating features/conduct there is likely no criminal action that can be taken. Footnote 29 A third recent study of 606 high school students at a single private school, representing nearly the entire student body, found that nearly 20% sent a sexually explicit image of themselves, and that 25% indicated that they had forwarded such an image to others. Footnote 28 A 2012 study published in the American journal Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine that surveyed 948 high school students in Texas, also found that 28% of the respondents had engaged in sexting.

With respect to young people, an online survey of 1,280 respondents (653 teens aged 13-19 and 627 young adults aged 20-26) in 2008 commissioned by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy found that 20% of teens and 33% of young adults had sent nude pictures of themselves via text or email (a practice referred to as 'sexting').

A recent survey of adults between the ages of 18 and 54 Footnote 27 found that 1 in 10 ex-partners have threatened to expose intimate photos of their ex on-line, and according to the survey, these threats have been carried out in 60% of the cases. Much of what is known about this behaviour is anecdotal and comes from the United States. There is limited data on the extent and the nature of this activity. Extent of Non-Consensual Distribution of Intimate Images The effect of this distribution is a violation of the depicted person's privacy in relation to images, the distribution of which is likely to be embarrassing, humiliating, harassing, and degrading or to otherwise harm that person. Often these images are originally intended for an individual or only a small number of other people but are disseminated more widely than the originator consented to or anticipated. Young people are increasingly consensually exchanging intimate images, which may later become fodder for humiliating cyberbullying attacks, with these images spreading quickly and often uncontrollably. During the relationship, the partners may exchange or take intimate photos of themselves for their personal use, but when the relationship breaks down, one of the former partners may provide/distribute the intimate images to the other partners' family, friends, employers etc., or may post such images on the Internet, in order to seek revenge on their former partner. The non-consensual distribution of intimate images (including videos) can occur in various situations involving adults and youth, including relationship breakdown and cyberbullying. Non-Consensual Distribution of Intimate Images Introduction Cyberbullying and the Non-consensual Distribution of Intimate Images

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