How to Defend Yourself against Revenge Porn?
Revenge porn is a criminal offense that entails disclosing a person’s private sexual photographs or films without their consent to distress them. Blackmail is frequently used as a precursor to revenge porn (where the perpetrator threatens to release private sexual footage unless their demands are met). Revenge porn can be communicated in a variety of ways, including texting or emailing friends and relatives, posting on social media, or uploading to pornographic websites. Maybe you are reading this today because there’s somebody in your life, an ex-partner, or a boyfriend threatening to expose your sensitive photos unless you comply with his demands. You might know someone faced with a problem and not sure tell them how to proceed. If so, this article is for you.
Don’t comply with Demands
It’s an absolute nightmare to be threatened by someone to have sensitive photos of yours publicized. It’s a nightmare that is real. Women often when threatened with revenge porn comply with the demands hoping the problem will go away. Unfortunately, the demands evolve making the situation much worse. Hence, refusing to comply with demands is your first line of defense against a perpetrator threatening you with revenge porn.
You might say, “But I am scared he will release my photos!” – Remember, you have lost half the battle, the moment you comply with demands in the face of intimidation. Don’t let someone else weaponize your fear and use it for taking advantage of you. Also, complying with demands can give the perpetrator an upper hand over you in a court of law when you take legal action.
Gather Incriminating Evidence
Although modern technology has been a blessing to perpetrators you can use it to beat him at his own game. It’s much easy to build a case against your perpetrator when you have incriminating evidence. You can use technology to gather evidence that you could later use to nail him. All the tools you need for gathering such evidence are already available on your smartphone.
For example, you can use the call recording feature in your smartphone to record the conversation between you and the perpetrator. Most modern devices such as Oppo A12 are shipped with a built-in call recording function. Even if your phone doesn’t support it out of the box there are many third-party apps that you can use for call recording. Also, acquire screenshots of any text messages. It’s your second line of defense.
Launch the Offensive
I told you to refuse to comply with demands and gather incriminating evidence. Now that you have two lines of defense it’s time for the offense. Do remember this. Never confront the perpetrator in person. He can become violent and cause physical harm. Neither, tell him that you possess evidence of his crime. The element of surprise must be yours. Not his!
Revenge porn is an offense punishable by the law under Penal Code 483 (criminal intimidation). You can complain to the Police Child & Women Bureau (Tel: 0112 444 444). If you need legal advice (free) visit the Legal Aid Commission (Tel: 0112 433 618) outlet in the nearest Court of Law or call the Ministry of Women & Child Affairs and Social Security on their hotline 1938. Lastly, you can also consider the Criminal Investigation Unit in Mirihana.
Wrap Up
Digital evidence is easy to destroy. Hence, you must keep redundant copies of the evidence you gathered. I recommend using a cloud storage service like Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive protected with 2FA. If you intend to use a pen drive or a memory card, I urge you to encrypt the content and store it in a safety deposit box if you can afford it. Still, cloud storage is the best solution if you prefer a cheap but reliable solution.
I don’t wish to judge you, but you can save yourself the headache of revenge porn if you are careful. After all, you can punish the offender in a court of law and send him to jail for life, but it cannot restore your, dignity. Society is going to remember you for a very long time. Therefore, prevention is better than cure. If you are interested in preventive measures, I urge you to read my post titled “Don’t be a Victim of Online Sexploitation”
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