"Revenge Porn" (H 7452A, S 2581A)

This misnomered legislation from the Attorney General makes it a crime to electronically transmit nude or sexually explicit images without the person’s consent, regardless of the sender’s intent. The Media Coalition, the RI Press Association, and the ACLU opposed the bill, as they had in past years, since it could criminalize publishing, among other newsworthy items, some of the photos from Abu Ghraib. The ACLU testified about these First Amendment concerns, but the General Assembly approved the legislation in May. In 2016, Governor Raimondo vetoed similar legislation on constitutional grounds, but supported this bill after some minor revisions that failed to address the ACLU's concerns. This year, the ACLU and other groups again asked Governor Raimondo for a veto. Unfortunately, she signed the bill into law in June.