PRESIDENT TRUMP SIGNS THE REVENGE PORN TAKE IT DOWN ACT

Written by Michael Thervil

American First Lady Melania Trump with President Donald Trump as he signs the Revenge Porn "Take It Down Act" Photographer unknown

Yesterday, the American Congress working with First Lady Melania Trump and President Donald Trump signed off on a federal law targeted at the distribution of revenge porn. A first and much needed federal bill now law that aims to criminally punish any American citizen that according to President Trump: anyone who intentionally distributes explicit images without the subject's consent will face up to three years in prison.” The passing of this federal bill comes at a time where the merger of Artificial Intelligence and defects are being somewhat of a major social issue in America. According to President Trump:

“With the rise of AI image generation, countless women have been harassed with deep fakes and other explicit images distributed against their will.”

What’s true is that statement is currently up for grabs. This is not to say that the publishing of deep fake pornography with the intent of inflicting revenge on a subject isn’t happening, because it actually is. One case in point would be the situation in which American singer Taylor swift found herself becoming a victim of such. But the point that is being raised by many people in America is what are the clear and definitive guidelines set in place that aids the federal government in deciding when consent has been given to publish an individual that voluntarily stood in front of a camera fully nude or implied.

Some critics of the “Take It Down Act”, are asking the question: “How do you define and determine when anyone is being held against their will when an image is taken?” The statement by President Trump seems to imply that people are having explicit images taken of them under some kind of force or cohesion, when in reality, they consciously knew they were having their image taken are struggling with the burden of public scrutiny after the fact. Currently there are already laws on the books that prohibit people from having their image taken without their consent in “sensitive” areas like bathroom, shower, and other “intimate spaces”, so how does the “Take It Down Act” differ outside the mention of artificially created images? The jury is still out on that one.