NEW YORK: Governor Signs Revenge Porn Bill Into Law

The Albany Times-Union reports:

Legislation designed to crack down on the non-consensual distribution of intimate images was signed Tuesday by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. The new law, which comes after five years of back-and-forth negotiations attempting to find a legislative weapon against “revenge porn,” creates a path for victims to remove content from the internet and imposes a penalty of up to a year in jail for violators.

The criminal statute applies in cases where the distribution of an image is intended to harm the subject, and when there was a reasonable expectation that the content would remain private. New York is the 42nd state to address the problem through legislation, but the first to give victims a means of getting content off the internet, according to bill sponsor Assemblyman Ed Braunstein, D-Queens.