NEW ORLEANS - A new law takes effect punishing anyone convicted of taking revenge on an "ex" by posting nude pictures.
Two years-- that's how long someone could spend behind bars for publicizing a nude photo or video of someone over the age of 17, without their consent.
“Kinda harsh but hopefully it'll get the message across,” New Orleans resident Franco Lee commented.
It's called revenge porn.
“The person that you're in love with today could be your mortal enemy tomorrow and you could find those pictures you took in a consensual manner, on the internet,” State Rep. Austin Badon said.
State Rep. Julie Stokes authored House Bill 489, which became law Saturday. It puts in place stricter penalties for perpetrators. Rep. Badon is a co-author of the bill. He says the new law is necessary because so many people are falling victim to the crime.
“You have people who are doing this with an intentional manner to cause emotional distress on other people so we had to step up,” Badon says.
“I think it's a great idea they've made it illegal because of the fact that yes people may be taking pictures or consenting to pictures at the moment but they're not consenting to it being distributed,” Cassandra Rodriguez commented.
Badon says in some cases, private images aren't just being posted to social media to cause embarrassment, they're being sold. He explains, “There’s actually a market out there for it and I remember hearing testimony that people were finding out, there was actually video of them on pornographic sites.”
Technology, Badon says, is the driving force behind new legislation. So while pictures and videos online may be difficult to remove, he's hoping stricter laws will serve as a warning to those hoping to take advantage of others.
Someone convicted of distributing revenge porn could also face a $10,000 fine. Badon's best advice, don't take any nude photos or videos, to begin with.
(Published by Fox News - August 3, 2015)