Video: “Revenge Porn Bill” Moving Through The Legislature

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – A new bill making it illegal to share an explicit photo without someone’s permission has been passed by the Mississippi Senate.

It’s called the Revenge Porn Bill.

Mississippi currently has a similar law, but this bill makes the illegal acts and charges clearer.

We reported a story on Wednesday, about what happens when a picture lands in the wrong hands, after a Columbus man was arrested and charged with posting injurious pictures electronically to cause injury, after posting explicit pictures of his girlfriend on social media.

Law enforcement says it happens a lot.

A quick click on your phone takes a picture of whatever you want.

Another few clicks can share that image on social media or text messages.

Once it’s out there, you loose control of it, whether you wanted it out there or not.

“It’s when those pictures are posted online, whether it be from the intended person, or somebody else gets a hold of them, that’s when the law, you know, if the victim hasn’t given permission, that’s when the law can step in,” says Lowndes County Investigator Tony Cooper.

College student Miraculas Clemons says she sees it on her Facebook feed a lot.

“I just see like seductive pictures of like girls doing things inappropriate to males that they shouldn’t do, or may feel violated after they see that it has been posted of them.”

Don’t take it, don’t send it. That’s the advice Investigator Cooper has when it comes to explicit pictures.

“What we have to do on those type of cases, be able to prove that there were some circumstances of the result of that picture being posted out there, and like I said, you know, a person lost their job as a result. We can take that into court and see there were damages, or there was an injury, you know as a result of this act.”

This MUW freshman says ‘bad pictures’ getting in the wrong hands is a major issue, and thinks the Revenge Porn Bill would help people become aware.

“There are people who might have bad intentions, and once people get done with relationships they might just, you know, misuse the pictures they have of the ex-girlfriends or boyfriends, or you know, they could just hinder their privacy they use to have,” says Prashant Khatiwada.

The misuse of pictures by an ex is what recently happened to Srijana Shrestsa’s sister.

“She had her pictures with her boyfriend, but what he did was, he like took all of the pictures and made a new Facebook and he sent all those pictures to all of her friends, and it went throughout the college.”

The Revenge Porn Bill still has to be passed by the House.

If it’s passed, it will go into effect on July 1st.