Petition to criminalize revenge pornography in Ireland goes viral

The online petition has seen new interest in recent days as tens of thousands of images of mostly Irish women and several minors were circulated online without consent. Politicians are now calling for urgent action.

petition at Change.org, launched four months ago by a woman based in Ireland, says: Image-based sexual abuse is not yet a crime in Ireland. Image-based sexual abuse is a major breach of privacy and is a continuation of revenge pornography, child rearing, cyberbullying and much more.

Many women in Ireland are constantly targeted and disproportionately affected by this resulting in serious consequences, leading in some cases to suicide. Girls affected by image-based sexual abuse are often also victims of severe cyberbullying and job losses due to this.

“Women in Ireland live in constant fear of posting their private photos without consent and even unknowingly registering. Abusive partners will threaten women to stay with them or they will release their images causing them to stay. trapped in abusive relationships.

I am publicly asking the Irish government that the Draft Law on Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offenses be signed into Irish law including that those found guilty be added to the register of sex offenders and face a criminal penalty that may see convicts convicted of imprisoned up to 7 years.

[The Bill, which was introduced by TD Brendan Howlin in 2017 and is currently in the committee phase, can be read in its entirety here.]

The petition then refers to Dara Quigley’s death in 2017: Dara Quigley was arrested under the Mental Health Act in 2017. Her CCTV footage of her walking naked and being detained was held by guards. A guard recorded the CCTV footage and sent it over WhatsApp, where it was shared over 125,000 times. Days later Dara took her own life. The Guard accused of sharing the footage did not face criminal charges and Dara deserves justice.

On November 19, Aileen Quigley, Dara’s mother, again called for image-based sexual abuse to become a crime in Ireland:

My daughter Dara Quigley took her own life after a video of her walking naked on a street caught on CCTV was shared on Facebook. It was not a crime then in 2017 and it still is not. Time to make one! # Justice4Dara # image-based crime

aileen (@ aileendub) November 19, 2020

The online petition has seen new interest in recent days following reports that images of women, some of them minors, were circulated online without approval this week.

On November 17, the Victims Alliance Ireland, which describes itself as “an organization created to give a collective voice to anyone who has been victimized by another person or system”, confirmed the massive sharing of images and called for volunteers to help assess the situation.

We have an unprecedented situation where we have become aware of a massive issue around image-based crime. We have seen massive folders with thousands of images being taken and distributed without the consent of the person in the photograph. The scale of the problem is in the tens of thousands

Victims Alliance (@Vicsalliance) 17 November 2020

The next day, Linda Hayden, founder of the Victims Alliance, said the Discord server where the images were being distributed without approval had crashed.

Discord crashed an entire server with 500 guys on it sharing files today. They got all the names of people on the server by uploading images and are preparing a file for Gardai. More of this please.

Linda ‘Scooby Doo’ Hayden ajo / ajo (@LindaOkaythen) November 18, 2020

I said Hayden The Irish Examiner: We at the Victims Alliance, through our head of image-based abuse, Megan Sims, became aware of an issue where people are using online forums to share images, some intimate, some not, in mega files.

“A common theme is that victims are not aware that their images are being used in this way,.

We even have examples where people have sent these images to family members of victims. To give the context of publication size, some of these files have 11,000 images in them, most have between 5,000 and 6,000. We have seen dozens of these files.

Hayden said the images that were shared without consent were taken from various platforms including Just Fans, Tinder, WhatsApp and Instagram. A large number are also taken without knowledge or consent in changing rooms or when women are sleeping.

Hayden, who said the files she and her team encountered were mostly belonging to Irish women, said the victims “had their consent and body autonomy taken away, they were degraded and they were afraid of who saw these images, what they were doing”. use them for and if it will affect their work, personal and family life.

Told a Discord spokesman magazine that as soon as the website became aware of this server, we deleted it permanently and identified and stopped approximately 500 users involved. “

The spokesman said Discord would co-operate on the matter with Irish authorities subject to applicable law. “

“No one should tolerate the pain of posting private images online without their consent,” the spokesman said, adding that Discord has a zero-tolerance approach to non-consensual pornography and child sexual abuse material, and we work aggressively and proactively. to keep him away from our service. “

On November 19, the Alliance said it was happy to leave as the guard continued to investigate the matter:

UPDATE: The Guard has asked us to leave to allow them to investigate. We are happy that they are committed to doing so. If you become aware of a connection that the Guardian should know about, please let us know and we will get over it. Please do not open any files in the links

Victims Alliance (@Vicsalliance) November 19, 2020

Some politicians raised the issue of “image-based sexual abuse” and pressed for immediate action in Dil on November 19:

Thousands of images and videos, mostly of Irish women, and including underage girls, are being maliciously distributed without the approval of online forums and private messaging groups.

I am calling on the Minister of Justice to act now to protect the victims. pic.twitter.com/uVyfqeU53s

Holly Cairns TD (@HollyCairnsTD) November 19, 2020

I raised concerns about the lack of protective legislation for women and girls regarding image-based intimate abuse as thousands of images were collected and distributed online without consent. pic.twitter.com/RjQSjr5no4

Mick Barry TD (@MickBarryTD) November 19, 2020

@bridsmithTD saying that this is the action of individual men, it also goes far beyond this in a state history that treats women as second-class citizens and even at a stage as men-owned. #Irelandsigntpetition # Irish Department of Justice pic.twitter.com/gu6K5XR1UP

People before profit (@ pb4p) November 19, 2020

Women and girls who are victims of image-based sexual assault will need ongoing support

This evening I asked the Minister of Health to ensure that support is available # image-based crime @Vicsalliance @Helping for Women pic.twitter.com/lzgB5OpqNy

Louise OReilly TD for Dublin Fingal (@loreillysf) November 19, 2020

The Irish Women’s Council has shared these resources if you believe your photos have been distributed without your consent:

If you have had personal images shared without your consent, support is available.@Helping for WomenThe 24th National Toll-Free Helpline is 1800 341 900@DublinRCCThe National Helpline is 1 800 77 8888 @Vicsalliance

Womenscouncilireland (@NWCI) November 18, 2020