Revenge porn: Your rights if intimate images are shared online without your consent

CapeTalk's Sara-Jayne Makwala King talks to cybercrime expert Craig Pederson (TCG Forensics) and attorney Verlie Oosthuizen (Shepstone & Wylie Attorneys).

The incidence of nonconsensual content being shared online, whether it's through revenge porn or fake porn or deepfakes, is ever-increasing in our digital age.

And what about people who share an image of themselves, but then regret the decision and want to remove it from public platforms?

Sara-Jayne Makwala King gets some insight on protecting one's personal image or that of a loved one.

She talks to cybercrime expert Craig Pederson - director of TCG Forensics, and attorney Verlie Oosthuizen - partner in Employment Law and Social Media Law at Shepstone & Wylie Attorneys.

Fake porn is sadly just another development in something that's already been an issue for many years, notes Oosthuizen.

And revenge porn is also on the increase, as she's witnessed in her own firm's matrimonial department.

"Fake porn has just become a lot more sophisticated because we have AI-generated images - you can put an image of a person pretty much doing anything into any kind of a programme."

"Revenge porn usually happens in a situation where a couple or people who know one another have shared intimate images... and then use them against the other one to cause pain."

Verlie Oosthuizen, Shepstone & Wylie Attorneys

Then there are deepfakes which Pederson describes as specifically generated using machine learning in order to imitate somebody.

"For about five years now for instance, there's been a piece of software circulating called deep porn which can take an image of a person and remove the clothing with alarming accuracy."  

Craig Pederson, Director - TCG Forensics

He says it's important to distinguish between the fakes and then revenge porn, which is real content that two people have created consensually at the time.

The platform on which an image or footage is disseminated is also important.

"If I choose to put a naked picture of myself on Facebook, Facebook would remove it. Whatsapp, however, does not have that filtration mechanism so it's seen as a key disseminator and once it reaches the first person that's it - once that horse has bolted it's not coming back."

Craig Pederson, Director - TCG Forensics

If the image in question is your own, for instance one you took in a mirror in your bathroom, you are able to assert copyright over it, Pederson says.

Once you've been able to prove it is yours, there are tools to prevent it being disseminated across other networks, he says.

"There are mechanisms to compute the hash value or unique identification number of that photo and prevent it from being disseminated across other networks based on that value."

"Remember though that even if you delete a picture on Facebook, the fine print will tell you it is never deleted, it's just not visible. And if you load something to YouTube you abrogate your right to that content."

Craig Pederson, Director - TCG Forensics

In an instance where you've sent a naked selfie to someone who then shares it online without your consent, you do have avenues to remove it but 'you're never going to be absolutely sure it's gone'.

And, it's going to cost you a lot of money.

"It's always going to be a cooperative effort - from a technical perspective I can do all sorts of things; however I also have to work with an attorney that creates the environment and the legal authority for me to do that."

"The Cybercrimes Act is very clear. It does cater to revenge porn, and you can go for redress, you can go for civil damages in certain circumstances."

Craig Pederson, Director - TCG Forensics

Ultimately, says Oosthuizen, if you're going to take the risk with taking explicit images or having them taken in the first place, don't cry if they do land up elsewhere.

And the advice from Pederson if you're going to ignore all warnings, is to 'keep your face out of it'.

For more detail, listen to the interviews in the audio at the top of the article