The Revenge Porn Act, Essay Example

It is provided by the first amendment that Congress should not make any law in respect to a religion’s establishment or prohibition of its free exercise. Freedom of speech, assembly, the press and the right to appeal to the Government through a petition, for a redress of complaints are all protected by the amendment. Regardless of this guarantee, it has been established by courts that free speech has some exceptions, particularly child pornography and defamation. Another aspect which can be held as an exception and which was not obviously considered by the writers of the American Constitution is revenge porn (Goode 2).

It would be argued by many that this is a type of speech, which is protected and some support could be pointed out from the Supreme Court, concerning free speech. There is no right, which is protected by the Constitution to distribute or consume sexually graphic photographs of private persons without their approval any more than a right, which is protected by the constitution to dispense obscenity or to be involved with threats, defamation or harassment. A statute, which is carefully drafted with lawful activity exceptions, like commercial practices or enforcement of the law, does not offend the principles of the first amendment (Goldman 2).

Whoever releases a film, recording, photograph or any other image of a person that has been reproduced and whose private parts are shown or who is involved in an act that involves sexual contact without the consent of that person, under conditions in which the individual has a reasonable anticipation of privacy, does a crime. A person who has agreed to the possession or the capture of their image within the circumstances of a confidential or private relationship keeps a reasonable anticipation of confidentiality as regards revelation past that relationship (Goode 3). Thus, the Revenge Porn Act is not a violation of the First amendment.

Works Cited

Bedi, Suneal. California’s Attempt to Avenge Revenge Porn. The Huffington Post. 9 Sept. 2013. Web. 7 November 2013.

Goldman, Eric. California’s New Law Shows It’s Not Easy To Regulate Revenge Porn. Forbes. 8 Oct. 2013. Web. 7 November 2013.

Goode, Erica. “Victims Push Laws to End Online Revenge Posts.” The New York Times. 23 Sept. 2013. Web. 7 November 2013.

Kelly, Heather. New California ‘revenge porn’ law may miss some victims. CNN. 3 Oct. 2013. Web. 7 November 2013.