A day after the eye roll seen across the country by Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-Virgin Islands), a revenge porn victim, at the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s hearing towards Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), New York State finally caught up to New York City and passed Revenge Porn legislation on Thursday that would criminalize the act.
Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Hillcrest), who passed a similar bill for New York City in 2017, thanked the state legislators behind the statewide law.
“I commend Senator [Monica Martinez D-Long Island), Assemblyman [Edward Braunstein D-Bayside], and the State Legislature for taking action today to make ‘revenge porn’ a crime in New York State and sending a strong message that this vile behavior will not be tolerated,” said Lancman.
After the passage of the citywide bill in the five boroughs, revenge porn was punishable for up to a year in jail and fined perpetrators $1,000.
“The City law has helped more than 140 survivors seek justice and hold perpetrators accountable. The State bill will make a big impact for survivors across New York State,” said Lancman.
The unlawful dissemination of intimate images used to cause financial, emotional or physical harm of another person will be a Class-A misdemeanor in New York State, according to nyassembly.gov.
This makes New York the 42nd state to enact such a law, according to cybercivilrights.org.
An individual who violates the law could face up to one year in jail, three years probation and a $1,000 fine, according to the bill.
Plaskett, who went viral Wednesday after being annoyed by Jordan trying to diminish Cohen’s testimony against President Donald Trump at a hearing, was once a revenge porn victim herself.
Weeks before the Congresswoman was set to embark on her primary to represent the Virgin Islands in 2016 a former staffer who offered to fix her iPhone distributed intimate pictures of her on Facebook.
In March 2018, the staffer was fined and sentenced to a year and a day in prison, while Plaskett, overwhelming won her 2016 re-election and the support of women even on the mainland outside of the Virgin Islands territory.
Greetings: Honorable Councilman Rory Lancman: Do your homework. You haven’t said anything new. What is, is what was, before the Revenge Porno writings; when it comes down to penalizing the cyber criminal. The alleged cyber criminal is still slapped on the hand to pay a fine and sent to jail for one year. So what? Big deal? You’ve said and did nothing to be commanded for. What needs to happen is to make cyber criminal behavior a felony with jail time, getting congress to amend the Anti Trust law. And you are sitting there, doing what….?Thank you, Sincerely, Valeria Sowell