April is World Sexual Assault Consciousness Month. Sexual assault can happen offline and on-line – latest surveys have revealed that increasingly ladies are experiencing digital harms resembling harassment, cyberstalking and revenge porn. On this two-part recommendation sequence on tackling sexual harassment within the digital house, Simran Toor, lawyer and CEO of SG Her Empowerment (“SHE”), shares how one can search assist.
When Melissa* (not her actual identify) was 18 years outdated, her ex-boyfriend, whom she thought she might belief, shared her nude s out of spite after the break-up. Seven years later, she nonetheless has not been profitable in eradicating all her s from the web.
Such instances of revenge porn, a type of on-line sexual abuse that entails the distribution of sexually express content material of a person with out their consent, is sadly not unusual, and may make the victims really feel as if they’re those at fault.
Right here, Simran Toor, lawyer and CEO of SG Her Empowerment (“SHE”), dispenses her recommendation based mostly on totally different eventualities.
What ought to I do when somebody filmed me with out my consent throughout intercourse? Is that this at the moment a felony offence? Who ought to I flip to?
Filming somebody with out their consent is a severe and deeply distressing intrusion of privateness. In Singapore, doing so can quantity to the felony offence of voyeurism below Part 377BB of the Penal Code. This can be a severe crime which is punishable by imprisonment.
You probably have been filmed this manner, it’s best to hunt out each authorized recommendation and emotional assist. A lawyer will enable you perceive your authorized rights and speak you thru what to anticipate in case your case is investigated by the authorities or goes to courtroom. Understandably, going by means of one thing like this will take an emotional toll. It’s thus additionally vital to make sure that you might have assist on the emotional aircraft, whether or not by way of a trusted good friend or member of the family, or perhaps a counsellor.
I not too long ago broke up with my boyfriend, and located that after our breakup, express pictures/movies that I despatched to him privately throughout the course of our relationship at the moment are being distributed with out my consent. I really feel so helpless that my nudes – which have been meant to be non-public – at the moment are circulating throughout. What ought to I do?
NCII (non-consensual intimate ry) – additionally generally often called “revenge porn” – may cause severe and long-term emotional impression or reputational injury to the particular person featured within the pictures/movies being circulated. The sort of conduct is against the law, and may quantity to a number of felony offences, all of that are punishable by imprisonment.
In Singapore, it’s an offence for anybody to:
- Distribute or threaten to distribute intimate pictures/movies
- Distribute voyeuristic pictures/movies
- Possess or acquire entry to voyeuristic or intimate pictures/movies
- Distribute obscene movies
If this occurs to you, it’s advisable to take motion rapidly in an effort to stem the circulation of the fabric. As a primary step, you must do an web search to determine the place the fabric has been posted. This may be executed utilizing a reverse search. Collect as a lot proof as you may, and take screenshots of every platform or app by which you see your s showing. Strive to make sure that the platform identify and the date or time-stamps exhibiting when the fabric was printed or shared on-line are clearly seen in your screenshots. After getting the proof you want, you may contact the related platform directors or file in-app reviews, asking for the fabric to be eliminated.
Sadly, it’s a lot tougher to determine the extent of the unfold over non-public chat messenger companies resembling Telegram or WeChat, however in case you do come to know that the fabric involved is being disseminated there, the identical steps would apply: collect proof and report it to the app.
Sadly, as soon as such materials as discovered its manner into our on-line world, there isn’t a assure that it’s going to ever be totally eliminated. It’s best that you just proceed to do such searches once in a while, to see in case your s have popped up once more. If that’s the case, the mandatory steps must be taken to have them eliminated.
The web site stopNCII.org gives expertise that would assist to trace and take away the unfold of your pictures/s, to a level. You possibly can go to the web site and supply a replica of the photograph/video involved. The location will generate a digital fingerprint (referred to as a “hash”) of the photograph/video. The web platforms that take part on this effort will then search for matches to the hash on their websites, and take away these from their techniques in the event that they violate their intimate abuse coverage. StopNCII.org will proceed to periodically search for fingerprint matches on collaborating web sites. You possibly can monitor the method of your case over time together with your assigned case quantity.
As we now know, units and clouds could be hacked, and as soon as such materials is leaked, the unfold is tough to manage. As a matter of warning, it’s advisable to chorus from sharing intimate pictures/movies of your self with some other particular person, even in case you belief them totally.
SHECARES@SCWO CENTRE
The SHECARES@SCWO centre for on-line harms might be a useful resource if you’re not sure what to do subsequent. That is Singapore’s’ first one-stop centre for victims or survivors of on-line harms, which gives holistic sufferer assist and a secure house for victims and survivors to show to once they encounter on-line harms.
SheCares@SCWO gives the next companies:
- A phone helpline and textline Callers can converse to a educated counsellor, who will assist decide if it will likely be useful so that you can attend a counselling session or a authorized clinic on the centre.
- Counselling Counsellors educated in trauma- knowledgeable care will present free counselling classes for victims or survivors of on-line harms.
- Professional bono authorized recommendation Authorized volunteers will provide free help at authorized clinics, that can assist you perceive your authorized rights and doable recourse avenues, together with whether or not a police report could be filed. The attorneys can even present assist with submitting in- app reviews to the platform the place the web hurt in query is happening, in order that it may possibly determine what motion to take.
If you want to hunt help, please attain out to the centre’s hotline at 8001 01 4616 or e-mail shecares@scwo.org.sg.
Supply: Her World