Bill would help women who receive unwanted nude images, sponsor says

Five bills intended to expand punishment for people convicted of online crimes passed unanimously and swiftly out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee Monday.

Assemblywoman Ellen Park (D-Bergen), who chaired the committee for the first time, said the issues reflected in the bills are those she wants to tackle as chairwoman.

“As a mom, I know many of us share the concern of, how do we ensure our kids who have grown up around technology are protected from some of the harmful side effects like cyber-harassment?” she said.

Among the bills the committee approved is legislation that would make electronically sending unsolicited nude photos a disorderly persons offense, with a punishment of up to six months in prison and a $1,000 fine. Similar legislation became law in Virginia and Texas, and has been proposed in states like California and Michigan.

More than 40% of women 18 to 24 report having received an unwanted sexual picture online or via text, according to a 2018 YouGov poll.

“Young women are overwhelmingly the victims in these types of incidents and they need to be protected. In today’s digital world, they can be targeted, coerced, humiliated and harassed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This law would give them legal recourse,” bill sponsor Assemblywoman Aura Dunn (R-Morris) said in a statement.

Park said her concerns about the type of behavior children experience online led her to introduce a bill that would expand the state’s cyber-harassment law, which was one of the measures her committee passed Monday.

Currently, cyber-harassment is a fourth-degree crime but rises to third-degree if the actor is 21 or older and impersonates a minor. Under Park’s bill, the third-degree crime would apply to anyone who is 18 or older and harasses a minor, whether or not they are impersonating one. Anyone found guilty of a third-degree crime faces a prison sentence of up to 5 years and a fine of $15,000.

The other bills advanced Monday would:

• Allow victims of “revenge porn” suing the people who released the material to use fictitious names or initials on court documents, so they don’t have to disclose their real names and addresses.
• Make it a fourth-degree crime to track someone, either through a tracking device or an app, without their knowledge. With the rise of Apple AirTags and other types of tracking devices, people — largely women — have reported being tracked and stalked.
• Update state statute to replace the words “child pornography” with “child sexual abuse material” or other language that Park said “more accurately reflects a terrible occurrence.”