More Thoughts on How to Write a Constitutional Revenge Porn Law

At a recent congressional briefing spearheaded by Congresswoman Katharine Clark and domestic violence advocacy groups, Michelle Garcia (director of the Stalking Resource Center), game developer Zoe Quinn, John Wilkinson of AEquitas, and I talked about the prevalence of online threats, the harms victims experience, law enforcement's difficulties enforcing existing threats laws, the First Amendment issues, and legislative next steps. Although the briefing focused on online threats involved in cyber harassment and stalking, the audience wanted to know if we should pass a federal law banning unauthorized publication of nude images and if we could do so consistent with the First Amendment. The briefing left us limited time to talk about such legislative efforts and the various critiques of proposed statutes. I've written about this issue quite a bit--in my book Hate Crimes in Cyberspace, articles, and op eds. But now that we are thinking about federal criminal legislation, it might be time to return to the issue with important critiques in mind.