Cyber flashing is expected to be a new criminal offense in the UK.
A source with knowledge of the matter tells Insider that the new offense will be announced by the government on Sunday.
The Times reported in February that offenders could be sentenced to two years in jail for cyber flashing.
In Scotland for over a decade, campaigners have advocated for making cyber flashing its own offense.
AirDrop, a feature that allows one Apple user to share files with another, has made it easier for people to send unwanted sexual images to strangers.
It has been a common issue on public transport in the UK, with women complaining about being sent unwanted dick pics over file transfer, but is difficult to prosecute under existing indecent exposure laws.
Advocates are worried that the new offense still leaves gaps for victims, if the definition is limited to cases where the offenders were acting for their own sexual pleasure or to cause a victim distress.
A professor at Durham University in the UK and an expert on cyber flashing told Insider that they have a clear choice between limited law and over-criminalizing men who send penis images.
A lack of evidence is one of the risks of a motivation-based law.
We risk seeing women's confidence in the criminal justice system reduce even further.
The Online Safety Bill, a major legislative push to monitor online content in the UK more aggressively and target tech companies that the government doesn't think are doing enough to block harmful content, was thought to include a specific cyber flashing offense.
Observers think that the cyber flashing law will face little opposition in the UK Parliament.
The British Transport Police recorded 66 reports of photographs being taken of people in 2019. The Law Commission of the UK suggested that cyber flashing is an under reported phenomenon.
In the US, 8% of adults reported being victims of non-consensual image-based sexual abuse.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
