Sask. expanding law punishing unwanted sharing of intimate images

Saskatchewan is amending its law that aims to protect people from having their intimate images shared without consent.

The government amended the Privacy Act in 2018 to allow victims of "revenge porn" to sue the person who distributed the image.

New changes introduced Monday will give victims the opportunity to reclaim their images and have them removed from the internet. 

"The malicious sharing of intimate images is exploitative and unacceptable," Justice and Minister Attorney General Gordon Wyant said in a news release.

"These changes will broaden Saskatchewan's existing civil remedies to help victims of this despicable behaviour regain control of their intimate images."

The provincial government defines an intimate image as, "a visual image, including photos or videos, in which a person is nude, partially nude, or engaged in explicit sexual activity," made under circumstances that suggested, "a reasonable expectation of privacy."

The government said the new amendments expand the definition of protected intimate images from original recordings to also include digitally altered copies.

The amended legislation will also allow the victim to also take legal action if someone has threatened to share intimate images.

The act also calls for intimate images to be returned and to make "reasonable effort" to make sure there are no copies available.

The legislation allows the court to order "internet intermediaries" to make efforts to "de-index" any recordings.

"These court orders are intended to make it easier for victims to successfully request that online platforms remove their images, something that in many past instances has been incredibly challenging," the Ministry of Justice said in a release.