By Lawrence P. Schaefer |
Have you ever been shocked to see sexual pictures of your private life posted online for all to access? Even if this posting is done by an ex-lover with whom you consented to have these images or video taken at the time, Minnesota now provides robust legal protections allowing you to not only report this dissemination as a crime, but hire an attorney and seek damages for this invasion of your privacy.
Minnesota Joins Seventeen States
Effective August 1, 2016, a new Minnesota law, entitled “Nonconsensual Dissemination of Private Sexual Images Act” (SF No. 2713), took effect. Through the enactment of this law, Minnesota joins at least seventeen other states by making it a criminal offense to disseminate (i.e. post) explicit photos, video or recording of another person on the internet without consent.
A Violation Can be a Felony
The law makes it a gross misdemeanor (punishable by a $1,000 fine) to post or disseminate such images, regardless of intent, and a prosecutor can pursue felony charges (with up to three years in jail and a $10,000 fine) if any one of a listed number of “aggravating factors” are present. These include disseminating the image for financial gain, maintaining a website for the purpose of posting the image(s), disseminating the images with an intent to harass, obtaining the image through computer hacking, or any prior conviction of the same or similar offense.
Financial Losses and Emotional Distress
In addition to criminal penalties, the law provides a civil cause of action for any victim of this type of dissemination. This includes recovery of all financial losses and other distress caused by the posting, recovery of any financial gain received by the individual disseminating the image(s), a $10,000 civil fine, and all attorney’s fees and costs incurred.
In the past, these type of claims would usually need to be pursued under an invasion of privacy or intentional infliction of emotional distress claims, but this new law makes this unnecessary, while also allowing for the full recovery of attorneys’ fees and costs (which are not generally available in prosecuting a civil tort claim).
If You are a Victim, Contact Schaefer Halleen
Any individual victimized by this kind of conduct should seek legal counsel promptly, and should be comforted in knowing that Minnesota has robust remedies available to punish this type of conduct and recover full damages. Schaefer Halleen attorneys are experienced in pursuing claims like these, and are available for consult and advocacy now that this new law has taken effect.
