Watch The White Hatter Live Chat of the subject.
A Canadian research study conducted in 2022 revealed that 43% of married adults engaged in sexting as a means of communicating their sexual interest (1). Similarly, a 2019 study conducted in Ontario, researchers found that 14.4% of adolescents between the ages of 13-17 years had shared a sexual picture (2).
Given the statistics mentioned above, it is an unfortunate reality that in today’s onlife world, the posting of intimate images without consent has become an alarming issue. Over the past few years, we here at the White Hatter have been able to assist both adults and teenagers, on a pro bono basis, in having intimate images that were weaponized and shared online without their consent removed successfully. Now with the introduction of the British Columbia Intimate Images Protection Act (BCIIPA) (3), the BC government has taken a significant step to help address this problem and more importantly offer accessible help to both adult and teen survivors of this crime. Our team takes pride in our unique experience working with survivors of technology-facilitated sexual abuse. This experience led the government to consult with us twice during the drafting of the BCIIPA, which aims to hold offenders accountable through an expedited civil process rather than a criminal complaint or traditional civil court process. The latter options can often be time-consuming, public, and extremely traumatizing for survivors. The BCIIPA provides a more private, efficient, and cost-effective way of resolving disputes related to intimate images.
What does the BCIIAP Cover:
The legislation covers not just the posting of intimate images, near-nude images, videos, livestreams and digitally altered images, including videos known as deep fakes, but also threats of doing so.
Deepfake videos are a type of artificial intelligence-generated media that involves manipulating and superimposing pornographic images or videos onto other people’s bodies or faces. Using deep learning algorithms, it is possible to create incredibly realistic pornographic videos that make it appear as though a person is saying or doing something that they never actually did.
While the BCIIPA may not be able to prevent the non-consensual distribution of intimate images or videos, we do believe that it does provide a means to hold the offender accountable through a civil process. The BCIIAP has a “Civil Resolution Tribunal” to investigate reported incidents, issue orders, and provide legal injunctions for the removal of images and videos that were posted without consent. Additionally, the BCIIAP can levy fines against offenders and compensate survivors for damages suffered. However, it’s worth noting that financial compensation alone will never fully address the emotional, psychological, physical, and social trauma experienced by survivors.
The Devil Is In The Detail:
Although a needed piece of legislation, we do think that there will be some challenges and growing pains associated with its implementation.
- If an intimate image or video is stored on a server or social media platform outside of Canada, any orders or injunctions issued by the BCIIAP may carry little to no legal weight. However, in our experience, most major social media platforms will honor legal documents from other countries. If the image or video is posted on a pornography site specifically designed to host such content, where the servers are located on countries like Russia, removing the images and video can be extremely challenging if not impossible.
- When the images or videos are taken down, there is still a possibility that they can resurface at a later date.
Despite these challenges, the IIPA is a significant step forward in addressing the problem of non-consensual intimate images. The act emphasizes education as a means of deterring from sharing such images. Furthermore, the IIPA is expected to reduce the time, trauma, and expense to survivors compared to the traditional criminal process or even the traditional civil process.
The Intimate Images Protection Act is a significant step forward in protecting individuals from the non-consensual sharing of intimate images. The civil process offers a more private, efficient, expedited, and cost-effective way of resolving disputes related to intimate images. The IIPA also provides for a comprehensive framework to hold offenders accountable civilly, which is expected to reduce the incidence of non-consensual sharing of intimate images in the long run.
Please watch the attached YouTube Livestream we did on this new legislation, where we drill down deeper on the topics discussed in this posting.
