My Lords, this has been a very useful debate indeed. I will deal with Amendments 37, 38, 39 and 40 together, as they are clearly designed to deal with broadly the same issue, albeit in slightly different ways. They all seek to create a new offence banning the uploading or publishing of material that has come to be known as “revenge porn”. First, I will say that I have great sympathy for the intention that lies behind these amendments, as I said at Second Reading. The posting or publication of intimate material is despicable and cowardly, and we must ensure that such behaviour is appropriately dealt with by the criminal law.
Revenge porn is a broad term used to describe a range of offending behaviour. Usually, it involves an individual, often an adult ex-partner, uploading on to the internet sexualised images of the victim to cause them distress. Although revenge porn does not always specifically involve content that would be regarded as obscene, there is no doubt that the online sharing of intimate images without the subject’s consent can cause great distress and upset to the victim. Some of these images are posted widely across the internet and are often extremely difficult to remove.
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Amendment 37 would create a new offence making it illegal to,
“publish a sexually explicit or pornographic image of another identifiable person”.
The new offence would be subject to a 12-month maximum prison sentence. Amendment 40 creates a new offence to capture revenge porn by amending the
Sexual Offences Act 2003, although the proposed new section does not provide for a penalty for the offence. In addition, it only captures images of another person doing a private act that are shared with the intention that the publisher, or a third person, will obtain “sexual gratification” by looking at them. It would not therefore capture all types of revenge porn, such as images which are being posted not for sexual gratification but with the intent of causing maximum distress or damage to the victim.
I assure your Lordships’ House that laws already exist that capture many instances of uploading or sharing such material. The Government encourage any members of the public who have been a victim of this behaviour to contact the police. All published material, both online and offline, is subject to the Obscene Publications Act 1959, which would cover the distribution of particularly extreme material that has been uploaded on to the internet. We also have in place other communications offences that might equally apply to this behaviour. If the content is grossly offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing it may fall foul of Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003, which makes it an offence to send such material over a public telecommunications network.
In addition, depending on the content, posting this material may be an offence under Section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988, the sentence for which the Bill will increase to two years’ imprisonment. The distribution of this material, if carried out as part of a “course of conduct” which alarms a person or causes distress, could amount to a criminal offence under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. That Act also provides civil remedies that would prevent more material from being distributed. Lastly, I assure noble Lords that if revenge porn images are of children under the age of 18, then very robust legislation dealing with indecent images of children would come into play.
However, notwithstanding this, the Government are carefully considering what more needs to be done to combat this very damaging behaviour. We are listening to campaigners, including those from across the House, and looking urgently at the best way to address the behaviour that these amendments seek to criminalise. This includes raising awareness of these issues, looking at the existing framework of criminal offences and ensuring that the relevant authorities are adequately equipped to take enforcement action when needed.
If new legislation is required, we must ensure that we address all the issues involved to ensure that we properly target the material that is causing concern and that we capture only the relevant behaviour. This requires detailed consideration and care, as has been widely acknowledged during the debate. Although there is a degree of consensus about what evil we are trying to seek out and criminalise, exactly how we capture it is a complex problem. This debate will certainly help the analysis that will take place in the month or two that follow, and I would of course be happy to see any of those concerned to ensure that we capture adequately and appropriately the behaviour at which these amendments are directed. We will take away these amendments and return to the House with
our conclusion at a later stage of the Bill. In the mean time, in thanking all noble Lords for their participation in the debate, I urge that the amendment be withdrawn.