Police flooded with queries over revenge porn
9:16 pm, April 02, 2015
Police received 110 consultations about “revenge porn” within only about one month of the enactment of the law against it late last year, it was learned Thursday.
Seven cases believed to be violations of the revenge porn damage prevention bill were also detected between the Nov. 27 enforcement of the law and the end of March, according to the National Police Agency.
Of the consultations, 16 percent, or 18 cases, were serious situations involving the leakage of photos or videos that were taken on the premise that they would not be disclosed. The police agency conducted its first survey on revenge porn, the act of posting sexually explicit images of former partners and others online without their consent.
The Fukushima prefectural police department reportedly arrested a man on suspicion of scattering sexually explicit photos of a former partner at a parking lot of a commercial facility in February. The Kanagawa, Gunma and Hokkaido prefectural police departments later arrested men suspected of posting pictures or videos of their former partners or others on Twitter and Internet bulletin boards.
The arrested men made statements such as “I asked her to come back to me, but she didn’t reply,” and “I got angry when I learned she was going out with another man.” They posted the victims’ images on the Internet from selfish motives.
Of the 110 consultations received about revenge porn by police departments nationwide, the largest number, 42 cases, were about threats to post victims’ private photos or videos online. In 22 cases, perpetrators sent such material to victims.
In 18 cases, harassment had already taken place, with victims’ photos or videos actually posted online. Ninety percent of these victims were women.
A man who killed his former girlfriend, a third-grade high school student, in Mitaka, Tokyo in 2013, posted photos and videos of her on the Internet, leading to the recognition of revenge porn as a social problem.
The revenge porn damage prevention law was enacted in response to this case, stipulating penalties such as a maximum of three years in prison for perpetrators.
