Dissertation, Law
revenge porn
Project description
I am uploading the literature review which you have already written for me. What is needed now is the main body of the dissertation. I would like this structured like a dissertation should be. I would like you to have a look at oscala referencing as that is the referencing that should be used. Case law and legislation is also very important and everything should be referenced. westlaw, lexis and heinmann are a great way to find journal articles. My research question is ” Is the current legal framework adequate to cover revenge porn in the UK” Below is what my supervisor sent me to include.
Your dissertation topic is ‘revenge porn’ regulation. In order to determine applicable law, you must first identify the ‘subject matter’ of revenge porn, which are ‘sex-texts’ (often made by sexting); nude ‘photos’; ‘films’ or ‘videos’, and other personal communications of explicit nature.
Revenge porn would engage the following legal concepts: (a) copyright; (b) privacy; (c) confidential information; (d) specific legislations that could criminalise revenge porn such as Protection from Harassment Act 1997, Communications Act 2003, Malicious Communications Act 1998; (e) specific legislations that prescribe civil remedies for revenge porn, which include the ones mentioned above; (f) Civil causes of action such as injunctive relief, damages, etc.
Therefore, the above laws would constitute the general legal framework for revenge porn regulation in the UK, and your primary research question would be the propriety or adequacy of the current legal framework. The major weakness of the current legal framework is that it is too disparate and not does not specifically address revenge porn, although it could be applied generally. This could pose difficulty for criminal prosecutions, which require offences to be well defined and that prosecutors must prove case beyond reasonable doubts.
The following is a more detailed application of the above legal framework:
(a) Copyright: personal communications of explicit nature such as ‘sex-texts’ could constitute a literary work under section 3(1) CDPA 1988; explicit photos would constitute artistic works under section 4; explicit films or videos would be protected by section 5B. Now if the victim of a revenge porn is the author of any of the above, then their publication on the internet without consent would constitute copyright infringement. Although there is no direct case law yet, it is permissible to cite analogous case law to illustrate your argument, and explain with reference to analogous case law and statutes why publication or use of any of the above copyright subject matter without consent would constitute copyright infringement.
(b) Privacy: revenge porn would also engage Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights; Data Protection Directive and the equivalent legislation in the UK (see lecture notes in computer & internet law), especially about the recent Australian case of Wilson v Ferguson case.
(c) Confidential Information: see your intellectual property literature on breach of confidence and the conditions for a breach of confidential information. See again the Australia case of Wilson v Ferguson and other analogous case law on breach of confidential information.
(d) Specific legislations that criminalise revenge porn: discuss the relevant provisions of the legislations mentioned above, citing analogous case law, and their relevance to revenge porn. See R v T (2012) EWCA Crim. (There were recent prosecutions in England by District courts. Search for some of these recent judgments).
(e) Specific legislations that prescribe civil remedies: discuss the relevant provisions of the legislations mentioned above on remedies such as injunctions and damages.
(f) Civil causes of action such as injunctions and damages: discuss court’s inherent jurisdiction to award injunctions and damages. Discuss the Wilson v Ferguson case and Constostavlos v Mendahun case.
I would like to advise you that this is your personal research, and that it is your responsibility to search for and read relevant literature, which include the ones I mentioned above.
You should also look for relevant journal articles in the electronic database such as Westlaw and Lexis.
I have attached two Canadian reading materials for your dissertation for comparative effect.
The first is the Cyber Safety Act 2013 and the second is Self v BahaI case (2015). The former deals with cyber bullying whilst the latter deals with the definitional interpretation of the scope of cyber bullying in Canada.
On a more general level, revenge porn could constitute cyber bullying, but unlike Canada, there is no specific cyber bullying legislation in the UK. You could use the materials to strengthen your argument for specific legislations for revenge porn in the UK, instead of the current disparate and generalised laws. However, whether having specific laws could successfully combat cyber bullying in general or revenge porn in particular, is debatable. But it would at least clear the air on the current definitional and conceptual uncertainties which could hamper prosecutions and concomitant civil remedies.
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