WA Breach of Privacy to Publish Private Pictures or Video?

[Ohe]

Hi Guys,

I have been involved with a situation of a girlfriend of mine where her ex from the past has threatened her that he would post/upload s*x videos of him & her online. Now she is very scared and terrified as you would imagine so I would like to get some help to see what we can do to help her as I thought you need that person's permission to upload such videos online. He is in state of NSW (Sydney) and we are in Perth so not sure how we should go about this privacy matter! Your help would be much appreciated.

 

[Sophea]

Hi @Ohe,

Were the videos taken with your girlfriend's permission? It is a criminal offence to video you engaging in a s*xual act if you didn't agree to it. The maximum penalty for this is 1 year in prison. It’s also a crime to share such a video - this also attracts a maximum penalty of 1 year in prison.

If this is an ongoing threat intended to intimidate or harass her then it may also be classified as stalking which carries a max jail term of 3 years.

It is a federal crime, if someone uses the internet in a harassing or offensive way such as by posting online a video of a s*xual act. Two ADF cadets were found guilty of this in 2013 for streaming video of one of them engaged in intercourse with a woman. Again, maximum penalty is 3 years in jail.

Posting a video like that could also constitute grounds for defamation, if it detrimentally impacts another person’s reputation. Your remedy for defamation would being suing this guy in court.

There are other laws that apply if a person tries to blackmail somebody by threatening to post something private.