ABUSIVE partners will be able to exploit loopholes in legislation designed to outlaw revenge porn by sharing intimate text messages, emails or audio recordings from former lovers instead of images, equality campaigners have warned.
An analysis of a consultation on new measures to tackle revenge porn and domestic abuse reveal overwhelming backing for a clampdown, with strong support for jail sentences of up to five years for those who share intimate photos or videos of past or present partners in a bid to humiliate them.
However, ministers have rejected calls to extend the law beyond images, leading to fears that it will not go far enough. It means those who share intimate emails, texts, online chat exchanges, letters or sound recordings will not fall foul of the new offence.
The Scottish Government made the omission from its Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm Bill, which has now been published, despite almost three quarters of respondents to the consultation saying they did not agree that the law should be restricted solely to images.
Last month, a court heard how an ex-boyfriend of a 22-year-old woman hacked into her Facebook profile and posted intimate private messages with her new partner on the public section of her page leaving the victim "embarrassed, humiliated and upset". As no image of the woman was posted, the proposed law would not apply.
Among the groups calling for the law to cover more than just images were Police Scotland, which warned that the impact of the words and sound files of an intimate nature "cannot be understated" and could prove as damaging as images if sent to family members, work colleagues or friends. It said that focusing solely on images could lead to legislative gaps and inconsistent sentencing.
In its consultation response, the charity Zero Tolerance said the revenge porn offence should capture "any media which an abuser can use to humiliate and control a women" and warned a narrow definition would mean legislation could be circumvented.
It added: "Men who seek to control and humiliate women are often capable of being extremely creative and clever in their abusive behaviour; and if an offence is too narrowly constructed they will find other means of achieving the same ends."
The position was backed up by the Scottish Women's Convention, which is funded by the Scottish Government. It said: "The most important aspect of the offence should be the personal and private nature of the information shared, as opposed to the format it comes in."
Scottish Women's Aid also called for the legislation to cover more than just images, raising fears that abusers could exploit loopholes if it did not cover all eventualities.
The consultation analysis showed that 96 per cent of respondents backed the creation of a specific offence regarding domestic abuse, with well over nine in ten believing police and prosecutors do not have sufficient powers to bring abusers to justice.
Around two thirds believed the domestic abuse offence, which will be proposed in future legislation, should only include partners or ex-partners, with others saying family relationships should also be covered. An overwhelming 99 per cent backed the creation of a specific offence to cover revenge porn, with agreement that typical sentences should range from six months to five years.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "We welcome the general support for the proposals that are now contained in the Bill that has been introduced into Parliament. We have focused the offence on the type of conduct (sharing of intimate images) that has raised the most concern. We will of course work with Parliament and listen to the views offered as the Bill goes through scrutiny to see if the offence could be improved."
Superintendent Brian Hughes, of Police Scotland, said: "We fully support the bill and have consulted with Scottish Government on the matter."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel