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Indiana’s supreme court upholds state’s ‘revenge porn’ law



INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indiana Supreme Court has upheld the state’s so-called “revenge porn” law, which criminalizes the unauthorized distribution of private images.

In a 5-0 ruling released Tuesday, the court found that the General Assembly did not violate the Indiana Constitution or the U.S. Constitution’s guarantees of freedom of speech when it passed the law in 2019.

The law criminalizes the non-consensual distribution of confidential images online or in person, making it a Class A misdemeanor punishable by a $5,000 fine and/or a year in prison.

The ruling included a Steuben County lawsuit where a Trine University student allegedly sent an explicit video to his ex-girlfriend via Snapchat.

Writing on behalf of the state’s supreme court, Judge Mark Massa, after a thorough review of state and national freedom of speech protections, said the court said the violation of limited freedoms imposed by the law was “largely outweighed by public health, welfare and safety.” served.”

He noted that “revenge porn” appeared on nearly 10,000 websites, in addition to being distributed via social media, blogs, emails and text messages, and was often posted with the names and contact details of the people depicted in the images attached to the images.

“Faced with the widespread and growing problem of non-consensual pornography, the legislature acted within its mandate to protect the health and safety of its citizens from this unique and serious crime,” the court said in its ruling.





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