Legality of "Revenge Porn" hits South African courts after Margaret van Wyk scandal

[Jamie McKane]

Legality of "Revenge Porn" hits South African courts after Margaret van Wyk scandal

Here's why the FPB hopes to have "Revenge Porn" made illegal in South Africa.

[BeoTeK]

4chan

[VirtualForce]

Wonder whats the legal pov when you send out something of yourself, like Margaret, even if its by accident. If I received it and sent it on, besides being a shitty human being, can you legally be in trouble?

Not talking about shitty boy/girl friends sharing photos taken privately and then shared as an act of revenge.

[Wenzdayz]

Wonder whats the legal pov when you send out something of yourself, like Margaret, even if its by accident. If I received it and sent it on, besides being a shitty human being, can you legally be in trouble?

Not talking about shitty boy/girl friends sharing photos taken privately and then shared as an act of revenge.

yes you can be in trouble, especially if i can show what you did was on purpose ad with the intent to harm my reputation and i f i can show that my reputation has sufffered ie. i cant leave my house without being hounded by strangers, my children being harrassed etc.

go look at the book "dont film yourself having Sex" by Emma Sadleir... she is quite good with these kinds of things and her motto is always, if you are going to send out raunchy photo's make sure you are not identifiable in them. ie make sure your face is not in them.

this is the type of law i am looking at specializing in once i complete my LLB

[Jan]

this is the type of law i am looking at specializing in once i complete my LLB

Very cool! In some ways I wish the justice system were more accessible to people who have photos like these circulated against their will.

Not only do our normal cops not really know what to do with offences on the Internet, going to court is so expensive!

[Graal]

It's a little disgusting that MyBB is still letting their members circlejerk in that thread over there. At some point you've got to realise that someone's freedom of speech does not trump another person's right to dignity. This was funny initially, but when she got doxxed and when people started spreading unconfirmed rumors of her private life it crossed a line.

I asked it there and I'll ask it here too, but why is it that when someone stumbles we feel the need to not only push them down but to tear them down until there is nothing left? I'm glad to see the same isn't happening on MyGaming.

[Jan]

It's a little disgusting that MyBB is still letting their members circlejerk in that thread over there. At some point you've got to realise that someone's freedom of speech does not trump another person's right to dignity. This was funny initially, but when she got doxxed and when people started spreading unconfirmed rumors of her private life it crossed a line.

I haven't followed that whole thread, but what I do know is that the mods have been doing their utmost to keep truly harmful stuff out of the thread as they are reported.

It's a complicated issue. Who decides when enough is enough? You can't let a thread like that run in the beginning because you think it's funny and then shut it down or delete it when you decide it's not funny anymore.

Here's another part of the debate I find interesting: as far as I understand it, the doxxing and some of the more harmful stuff originated on sites like Facebook or Twitter. Censored and uncensored versions of the photo are still being circulated in some places (not MyBB, AFAIK).

Who is holding those platforms to account for what their users are doing?

I asked it there and I'll ask it here too, but why is it that when someone stumbles we feel the need to not only push them down but to tear them down until there is nothing left? I'm glad to see the same isn't happening on MyGaming.

I wonder this too.

What is about non-consensual compromising images that drive people wild like this? You can look at all the genitalia you want online from people who signed up for, and got paid for it.

I've also heard of several other cases where people posted nudes of themselves to WhatsApp groups accidentally. Why did those cases mercifully blow over for those people, but this one became national knowledge?

Why did those people decide not to exploit the photo poster's vulnerability, while these did?

[Kitsune-chan]

I haven't followed that whole thread, but what I do know is that the mods have been doing their utmost to keep truly harmful stuff out of the thread as they are reported.

It's a complicated issue. Who decides when enough is enough? You can't let a thread like that run in the beginning because you think it's funny and then shut it down or delete it when you decide it's not funny anymore.

Here's another part of the debate I find interesting: as far as I understand it, the doxxing and some of the more harmful stuff originated on sites like Facebook or Twitter. Censored and uncensored versions of the photo are still being circulated in some places (not MyBB, AFAIK).

Who is holding those platforms to account for what their users are doing?



I wonder this too.

What is about non-consensual compromising images that drive people wild like this? You can look at all the genitalia you want online from people who signed up for, and got paid for it.

I've also heard of several other cases where people posted nudes of themselves to WhatsApp groups accidentally. Why did those cases mercifully blow over for those people, but this one became national knowledge?

Why did those people decide not to exploit the photo poster's vulnerability, while these did?

Different group of people, different mindsets? Perhaps she was the 'wonder mom' in town and this unfortunate incident was the most opportune time for those who resented her to besmirch her?

[Graal]

I haven't followed that whole thread, but what I do know is that the mods have been doing their utmost to keep truly harmful stuff out of the thread as they are reported.

It's a complicated issue. Who decides when enough is enough? You can't let a thread like that run in the beginning because you think it's funny and then shut it down or delete it when you decide it's not funny anymore.

Here's another part of the debate I find interesting: as far as I understand it, the doxxing and some of the more harmful stuff originated on sites like Facebook or Twitter. Censored and uncensored versions of the photo are still being circulated in some places (not MyBB, AFAIK).

Who is holding those platforms to account for what their users are doing?

The nice thing with Twitter and FB is that posting about this now more easily opens people up to legal action, so people are a little more hesitant about it. For me it was funny in the beginning when Margaret was still just an anonymous person, but it crossed a line once people started doxxing her and digging into her (and her family's) personal lives. Up until that point it could have just been any random person (discoverable for anyone motivated enough, of course), but after that it became a malicious attempt to publicly humiliate a woman for a mistake she made. It was around the time when people on MyBB started spreading rumors of infidelity and the like that I expressed my disgust and tapped out.

I wonder this too.

What is about non-consensual compromising images that drive people wild like this? You can look at all the genitalia you want online from people who signed up for, and got paid for it.

I've also heard of several other cases where people posted nudes of themselves to WhatsApp groups accidentally. Why did those cases mercifully blow over for those people, but this one became national knowledge?

Why did those people decide not to exploit the photo poster's vulnerability, while these did?

I suspect it has a lot to do with our desensitization to, among other things, sexual content. I was reading an article the other day (I'd have to find it again before you can quote me on it) about the increasing prevalence of 'extreme' porn (torture porn, bestiality and the like) being watched by younger boys who have become desensitized to 'normal' porn. Maybe it's simply a question of regular porn no longer 'doing' it for people and the taboo of leaks being more thrilling? I remember wondering in 2014 why people were going apeshit about the celebrity nude leaks when what was leaked was likely mild and boring compared to what you can find on PornHub daily.

There's also the internet-wide issue of people not being able to sympathize with other people on the internet because the only exist as words to them. In this regard I'm guilty too and I often have to remind myself to not be as much of a dick because I'm talking to actual human beings and not robots (heyyy NMS thread participants ). To most people Margaret van Wyk is just a picture on the internet, so they don't care how what they say and do affects her in the long-term. These people will probably move on in a week and once again become oblivious to her existence, but she'll have to live with the repercussions for years to come.

[Mister 44]

I wonder this too.

What is about non-consensual compromising images that drive people wild like this? You can look at all the genitalia you want online from people who signed up for, and got paid for it.

I've also heard of several other cases where people posted nudes of themselves to WhatsApp groups accidentally. Why did those cases mercifully blow over for those people, but this one became national knowledge?

Why did those people decide not to exploit the photo poster's vulnerability, while these did?

I think it is the "thank God it wasn't me" effect that played a big role. Then there is the fact that she apparently sent two messages incorrectly (debatable, but it seems that way) in close order. Also, the group she accidentally sent it to could only have been worse if it was a church group or the old age home's bake sale group. The meme potential of the replies and her second message didn't help either ("Sjoe", "Hi Chris al gery?").

So if it was just the pic, nobody outside the group would ever have known most probably. It was an unfortunate collision of many factors that made it go viral, IMO.