A 39 - yr - quondam man in the UK was sentence to more than a yr in prison house on Tuesday for place unasked images of his genitals to a 15 - year - honest-to-god girl and a cleaning lady in her 60s , accord to a insistency release fromEssex Police . The teenaged girl was give “ overwhelmed and squall ” according to theGuardian .
Nicholas Hawkes plead shamefaced to two counts of “ sending a picture or film of privates to induce alarm , hurt or mortification . ” Hawkes sent the image to the girl and cleaning woman on Whatsapp and Apple iMessage , though it ’s not immediately clear if he knew the dupe personally .
Hawkes is the first soul in Britain to be charged under an unasked nudes provision of the new Online Safety Act , which was devolve last year and took consequence January 31 . Hawkes was sentenced to 66 weeks in prison — roughly a year and three months , and was already on probation during the offense for “ vulnerability and intimate activity with a tyke under 16 , ” fit in to theBBC .
Photo: Twenty47studio (Getty Images)
The Online Safety Act has been controversial from the start for include a telephone number of provisions that digital rights groups have opposed , include a new age confirmation requirement forconsumers of online pornand unexampled requisite that would force companies to abolish end - to - remainder encryption of messages . Apple and other technical school companiessigned a letterlast yr urging UK legislators to reconsider the police since end - to - end encoding is a vital dick for keeping messages dependable among activists and journalists .
But the elements of the new lawmaking that are mostly uncontroversial involve thing like the forbidding on unsolicited nudes , especially those being ship to kid . Essex Police stressed that people sometimes reckon they can shroud behind the cyberspace when committing various offenses , but clearly , that ’s a very naive melodic theme .
“ perpetrator may opine that by break online , they are less likely to be catch , however , that is not the case . ‘ Cyber - flashing ’ has a prejudicious impact on victims , and we will keep on to investigate all reports of this offence , ” Detective Chief Inspector James Gray said in a statementpublished online .
“ My main message here is to the perpetrators , people who call back it ’s satisfactory to ship these unsolicited photos without permission . It ’s not and I ask those who remember it is acceptable to speculate on their behavior . ”
U.S. laws about cyberflashing vary by country , though the potential penalization do n’t include jail prison term . Virginia take place a law in 2022 that any unsolicited “ intimate range ” sent to another grownup could convey a fine of $ 500 . California also passed a law in 2022 nickname the Forbid Lewd Activity and Sexual Harassment , or FLASH Act , that does n’t label the activity a offense but does allow someone to sue for up to$30,000 in civic damages .
Law , CrimeSexual Harassment
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