Brown publishes chapter in ‘Palgrave Handbook of Everyday Digital Life’
Doctoral candidate Allison Brown recently published a chapter in “The Palgrave Handbook of Everyday Digital Life.”
According to Brown, the continuous growth of the global online population has brought an increase in the sharing of harmful and objectionable content online. Among these practices is the non-consensual dissemination of intimate images (NCII), commonly referred to as revenge porn, a problem that has implications for victims’ individual privacy, reputation, and sexual autonomy.
With sexting becoming a normalized practice in romantic relationships, more persons are engaging in practices that will make them susceptible to NCII. In addition, NCII is a practice that disproportionately affects women and other marginalized groups, so it impacts the landscape of societal equality. Closer examination of NCII and its regulation enables the development of solutions to a global policy problem that is relevant to equality, freedom, and individual rights.
Brown’s chapter seeks to contribute to the growing corpus of scholarly work on this emerging problematic practice by comparing two cases in different countries — the Donovan Powell case in Jamaica and the Animesh Boxi case in India — to identify the challenges and considerations that emerged in these cases of prosecution under NCII-relevant laws.
Through the analysis of legal documents, along with news and media items, the chapter identifies areas of challenge and key considerations for NCII-relevant policymaking and regulation. Brown’s chapter argues that prevention and deterrence should be prioritized by governments alongside appropriate penalties that take account of global practices as well as local imperatives.