Italian Watchdog Advises on Protections Against Revenge Porn
The best defenses against revenge porn are awareness and caution, Italian data protection authority Garante said Thursday.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Privacy Daily provides accurate coverage of newsworthy developments in data protection legislation, regulation, litigation, and enforcement for privacy professionals responsible for ensuring effective organizational data privacy compliance.
It defined revenge porn as the sending, delivery, transfer, publication or dissemination of images or videos with sexually explicit content intended to remain private by people who have stolen them or made them without the consent of the individuals pictured.
Revenge porn is usually carried out for vengeance or to publicly denigrate, blackmail, bully or harass, the DPA said. It can have severe effects on victims' psychological, social and material lives.
Protecting and managing one's personal data properly can protect against revenge porn, the watchdog said.
It recommended using adequate security on smartphones, PCs and tablets, including encryption and antivirus systems. Someone who receives photos or images with sexually explicit content about others should not spread them but should delete them, it added.
Revenge porn images can also involve children, so parents should monitor minors' online behavior and explain clearly why they shouldn't interact with strangers or spread personal information, the DPA said.
Those with a well-founded fear that sexually explicit images of them could be spread without their consent should file a report with the DPA, it added.