Use of Copyright Law to “Take Down” Revenge Porn

The past year has shown that for many female celebrities, privacy in their personal photos and videos might be one of the few luxuries that they cannot afford. In late August of last year, hundreds of nude images of alleged household names, such as Jennifer Lawrence, were released on the Internet without the women’s permission. But celebrities are not the only targets of this severe invasion of privacy. Every year, tens of thousands of non-celebrities around the world have had their private photos posted on the Internet without their permission. Though undeniably a terrifying and absolutely devastating experience for most people facing such a situation, both celebrities and ordinary women have very limited legal recourse against the individuals that posted the photos, and even less still against the websites that host the images. This is because no single law, state or federal, criminal or civil, is currently capable of granting a victim the remedy they most likely desire: to have the unauthorized images completely removed from the Internet. This post was originally published on the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal website on March 20, 2015. The original post can be accessed via the Archived Link button above