{"id":33106,"date":"2014-07-20T11:34:38","date_gmt":"2014-07-20T11:34:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=33106"},"modified":"2014-07-20T11:34:38","modified_gmt":"2014-07-20T11:34:38","slug":"britain-to-pass-laws-against-revenge-porn-said-to-be-on-the-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=33106","title":{"rendered":"Britain to pass laws against revenge porn said to be on the rise"},"content":{"rendered":"

With trembling hands, 21-year-old Hannah Thompson typed in the web address and hit enter.<\/p>\n

What appeared in front of her over the next few seconds made her stomach lurch.<\/p>\n

Photo after photo of a naked girl taken from every angle filled her screen, each complete with a string of lurid comments from men underneath.<\/p>\n

Hannah looked into the girl\u2019s eyes and dashed to the bathroom to throw up.<\/p>\n

The face on screen<\/span> was hers.<\/p>\n

Hannah had become\u00a0a victim of revenge porn<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 a chilling new internet \u00adphenomenon in which jilted lovers upload explicit intimate photos and videos of their ex-partners for<\/span> the world to see.<\/p>\n

Often along with personal details and even contact information.<\/p>\n

The sick craze started in America where it has led to suicides.<\/p>\n

And now it is sweeping Britain, with the National Stalking Helpline and UK Safer Internet Centre reporting a dramatic rise in people like Hannah reporting incidents in the last six months.<\/p>\n

Victims are often forced to pay dedicated revenge porn sites up to \u00a3300 to remove photos and videos. But many are posted on\u00a0Facebook and Twitter as well as popular blogging site Tumblr<\/a>, where they can be copied and re-posted in seconds.<\/p>\n

It was on Tumblr that Hannah discovered the depths her ex-boyfriend had plumbed.<\/p>\n

Her horror deepened even further when she realised<\/span> there was nothing she could do about it. She complained to police but<\/span> to no avail. They said her boyfriend had broken no laws.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it,\u201d says political campaigner Hannah.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow could this not be illegal? All they could do was speak to him on my behalf.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seemed crazy that he could set up a fake account using my images and encouraging people to use them as porn and all the police could do was have a word with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hannah was just 18 when she met her ex-boyfriend.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t long before he asked her to send him sexy<\/span> snaps. Despite feeling nervous, the smitten teenager agreed.<\/p>\n

She recalls: \u201cHe told me \u2018this is what everyone does\u2019. It was my first proper relationship so I went along with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to ChildLine, 25 per cent of 13 to 18-year-olds have admitted sending a sexual image of themselves to someone else.<\/p>\n

After Hannah and her ex split last year she was horrified to find the pictures had been uploaded to Tumblr with crude slurs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt physically sick,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were labelled with things like \u2018British slut\u2019 and \u2018whore\u2019. He was encouraging men to leave derogatory comments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Terrified, she tried sending him a breezy email asking if he would take the pictures down. He agreed \u2013 but a few weeks later they were back up.<\/p>\n

Livid, she contacted him again.<\/p>\n

He took them down again but<\/span> two weeks later back they came. Within six months Hannah\u2019s pictures had spread across the internet.<\/p>\n

She says: \u201cI was constantly begging my ex to take them down.<\/p>\n

“I felt \u00admanipulated into retaining some form of friendship with him to try to stop him re-uploading the images.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hannah, of Guildford, Surrey, complained to Tumblr and they took them down.<\/p>\n

But they were soon back on and it took five attempts before they disappeared. She still fears they are in circulation somewhere.<\/p>\n

Her experience is echoed<\/span> across the country. Single mum Sherene Mullins, 29, had 49 graphic snaps and nine videos of her uploaded to a revenge\u00a0porn site<\/a>\u00a0which describes itself as a \u201cmoral free file host\u201d.<\/p>\n

It boasts more than 1.5 million visitors a day and has more than 23 million pictures and videos.<\/p>\n

Sherene\u2019s<\/span> pictures are \u201ctagged\u201d with descriptions including slag, whore, tramp and even Aids.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first found the site, I cried my eyes out,\u201d says Sherene of \u00adSouthampton.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy ex lived a few hours away so it was nice to send each other sexy messages<\/span>. He\u2019d sent me loads of himself and it would never occur to me in a million years to put those online.\u201d<\/p>\n

She claims he posted her full name, location and Twitter handle alongside the pictures.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had so many horrible messages. It\u2019s so scary, especially when they know where I live,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to change the law. People must not be allowed to get away with this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just under half of victims are aged 18 to 21. And they are not all women \u2013 17 percent of victims are male.<\/p>\n

Jonny, 26, became a victim after his ex-girlfriend posted naked pictures alongside his full name and details of his Facebook profile on IsAnybodyDown.com<\/p>\n

Within days his Facebook inbox was full of messages from men telling him they\u2019d like to have sex with him and even offering to pay him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went into a blind panic,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He deleted accounts and changed usernames and passwords on his social networks and email accounts.<\/p>\n

Six months later, the site was closed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was horrible but<\/span> since then I haven\u2019t had any more trouble,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I know women who have had a lot more. It\u2019s really scary.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it can kill too. Canadian schoolgirl Amanda Todd committed suicide after a webcam video of her exposing her breasts went viral in 2012.<\/p>\n

And 18-year-old New Jersey student Tyler Clementi, took his own life in 2010 after his roommate circulated a video of him with a gay date.<\/p>\n

But there is hope for victims.<\/p>\n

The House of Lords will debate a change to the law that could make it an offence<\/span> to publish a sexually explicit or pornographic image without consent.<\/p>\n

And revenge porn could be added to the Sexual Offences<\/span> Act meaning<\/span> culprits would face jail and be registered as sex offenders.<\/p>\n

Lib Dem MP Julian Huppert, the first MP to raise revenge porn in the Commons, said: \u201cThere is a loophole in the law that needs to be closed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kathryn Tremlett, from the UK Safer Internet Centre Helpline, said: \u201cWe\u2019ve seen an increase in calls about revenge porn.<\/p>\n

“Until we clamp down on this it\u2019s going to continue to be an issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great that this is going into the House of Lords. I hope this time next year we can use the police and the CPS to deal with this.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source: Mirror.co.uk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With trembling hands, 21-year-old Hannah Thompson typed in the web address and hit enter. What appeared in front of her over the next few seconds made her stomach lurch. Photo after photo of a naked girl taken from every angle filled her screen, each complete with a string of lurid comments from men underneath. Hannah […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":33107,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-33106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-wassa-akropong"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}