14 DAY TRIAL // When a marriage or significant relationship ends, one of the partners may be disgruntled and decide to take revenge on their ex-lover by posting raunchy photos of them online. This practice may cause a lot of harm to the person exposed by means of those intimate pictures, and the dispute usually goes way beyond sharing pictures.
However, things have begun to change for the better, as many states have passed laws banning the sharing of explicit images of ex-partners. Now, a German court has created a new standard when it comes to this kind of revenge incidents by ordering a man to delete all intimate material featuring his former girlfriend even though he had shown no intention of publishing them and the woman consented to the photos and took some of them herself.
The ruling came after an unnamed woman from Hesse, in central Germany, brought her ex-partner – a professional photographer – to court at the end of their relationship because he refused to delete the compromising photographs and videos he took of her with her consent.
The Higher Regional Court of Koblenz ruled in her favor on Tuesday, saying that consent to use and own private racy photographs could in this case be withdrawn as an issue of personal privacy rights. The judge ordered the defendant to delete all the images in which his ex-girlfriend was not clothed.
The ruling represents a first in legal battles of this kind, as traditionally it has been difficult to withdraw consent to photography once it had been given. Normally, in countries that have legislation banning the distribution of compromising photos by exes, the judge only penalizes those who publish raunchy material without demanding them to delete it.
This case brought forward the widespread issue of online bullying, with many legal experts and support groups welcoming the court's decision.
Michaela Brauburger, who educates young people about the responsible use of social media, told the Guardian, “Increasingly, young people share and upload images without giving it much thought. We constantly try to educate young girls in particular to think about what may happen to intimate photographs after they are taken. Hopefully this decision will empower them to broach the issue with their partners before it is too late.”
So far, Israel has adopted the strictest law regarding the distribution of intimate photos online, with some of the harshest penalties in the world – up to five years in jail.