Sunday, February 20, 2022

PRIVACY 101
Dutch court says porn site can't post images of people without their permission


The decision specifically applies to one Dutch porn website, but the legal ruling is expected to affect multiple similar sites in the Netherlands.
File Photo by Gajus/Shutterstock

Feb. 17 (UPI) -- In a landmark decision Thursday, the Court of Amsterdam has ordered a Dutch porn website to clear out revenge porn or any nude images that were obtained and posted online without the express permission of the person in them.

The ruling shifts the burden of proof from the victim to the production company, a spokesman for Stop Online Shaming, which brought the suit two years ago, along with HelpWanted, part of the Online Child Abuse Expertise Agency, told Trouw.

"Until now it was up to each individual victim to prove that he or she had not given permission for the material to be shown," SOS spokesman Willem Van Lyden told the Dutch daily newspaper. "The judge had turned this around. All material is now illegal which is not a professional production unless it can be shown permission to show it was given."

The decision specifically applies to one Dutch porn website -- which hosts thousands of videos that were made surreptitiously in areas where people believe they are unwatched, like changing rooms. But the legal ruling is expected to affect multiple similar sites in the Netherlands.

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The Amsterdam court agreed that sexual images published without consent are a violation of privacy, and said the porn website is obligated to compensate victims. It also ruled that the site must take down all material obtained without consent within eight weeks.


Van Lyden noted that Pornhub, the world's largest online adult site, removed many videos after accusations that they depicted child abuse and rape.

"If they have, all well and good, but we will go after the others that haven't," Van Lyden said, according to Dutch News.

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