Revenge Pornography or Non-Consensual Dissemination of Sexually Explicit Material as a Sexual Offence or as a Privacy Violation Offence

Revenge pornography, or non-consensual dissemination of sexually explicit material, has become a new cyber offence where the perpetrators target the sexual integrity of the victims by sharing the sexually explicit media of a victim online, and therefore seriously damaging both the sexual integrity and identity of the victim. Thus, mainly in countries with Anglo-American law systems, revenge pornography is being treated as a serious sexual offence. On the other hand, the traditional criminal law concept in countries adhering to the continental law system is firmly anchored in the belief that the attacked virtue of revenge pornography is the right to privacy of an individual. Therefore, criminalising revenge pornography only as a privacy violation crime. Consequently, the offence in these countries is not taken as seriously, or punished as harshly, as is the case involving sexual offences. The purpose of this article is multifold: to suggest an ideal criminal law definition for revenge pornography; to explore some dilemmas that the continental criminal law doctrine is facing when dealing with revenge pornography; and to compare criminal law legislations of certain countries of central Europe in order to explicitly propose specific legislative solutions.