UK: People with Fake Rape Porn Could Get as Much Jail Time as Real Sex Offenders in the U.S.

Mr Cameron is targeting websites which show videos and images of rape – whether they claim they are ‘simulated’ or not.

ALEXANDER ABAD-SANTOS, THE ATLANTIC WIRE

The latest chapter of Prime Minister David Cameron’s ongoing plan to enact a ban on porn is set to happen on Monday when he announces that anyone who possesses a porn depicting rape (simulated or not) can face up to three years in jail — the same amount of prison time as the average sentence for actual sexual assault in the United States.

Yes, that’s sort of embarrassing when it comes to sexual assault sentencing in U.S., but many feel like the U.K. change is too strict when it comes to what’s become a common fantasy.

The new anti rape-porn law will broaden the definition of possession to viewing the criminal porn on a browser, The Mirror reports, and Metro UK explains that this will go into effect in 2014:

The changes to the law, which will be introduced in January, will bring England and Wales in line with Scotland, where the offence carries a maximum sentence of three years in jail.

Mr Cameron is targeting websites which show videos and images of rape – whether they claim they are ‘simulated’ or not.

Cameron said this summer that these measures and his anti-porn push were about helping women and children. Cameron explained that he wanted to eliminate child pornography and change how women are depicted in these films — he hopes that cutting down on rape pornography it may change sexual violence in the country. No one really has any qualms with Cameron’s goal to punish and clamp down on predators who are producing and procuring child porn.

But his rape ordinance isn’t going over as smoothly.

Yes, in the darkest corners of the Internet, there are disgusting videos of actual rape out there. But there are also plenty of films which now straddle the line and touch upon rape/dominance fantasies. And these films aren’t just for men. According to a 2009 study from North Texas University, 62 percent of women said they had a fantasy when they were having sex against their will. Psychology Today reports that history has shown similar statistics:

From 1973 through 2008, nine surveys of women’s rape fantasies have been published. They show that about four in 10 women admit having them (31 to 57 percent) with a median frequency of about once a month. Actual prevalence of rape fantasies is probably higher because women may not feel comfortable admitting them.

Having a fantasy and reality are, of course, very different things. People playing paintball probably wouldn’t want to actually get shot by real a gun and real bullets, and people watching slasher movies don’t want to actually kill a bunch of good-looking white people. In that same vein, the majority of women and men who fantasize about a domination/non-consensual fantasy aren’t actually looking to get real-life raped or do real-life raping (not to mention, there are plenty of men, gay and straight, who fantasize about being dominated too).

That North Texas study found that there’s a sharp drop off when it comes to the wording — when “rape” is used, only 32 percent of women admit to the fantasy, when “overpowered by a man” is used, that number jumps to 52 percent of women. And men aren’t necessarily comfortable actout rape fantasies their partners ask for, either.

Further, the connection between actual real-life violence and porn is blurry at best — India, which bans all forms of porn, has been in the news thanks to a rash of brutal rapes. Meanwhile, in the United States the incidence of rape declined 85 percent over a period of 25 years while access to pornography has increased, The New York Times reported.

Figuring out how to send the right message and what constitutes bad and good and the depiction of women is no doubt tough. But the idea of criminalizing and punishing a common fantasy and not addressing or recognizing that fantasy is not reality, isn’t exactly helping.

Fetish Club “Slave Master” Guilty of Animal Porn, Faces Sentence for Flogging Slaves in Front of Boy

Fetish club leader Brian Thornhill. Picture INS News

by KentOnline Reporter

The sadistic master of a fetish club who kept “slaves” at his home is facing prison after he was convicted of spanking women in front of a young teenage boy and keeping extreme pornography.

Seedy Brian Thornhill, who was master of the North Downs Pony Club near Rainham, had claimed flogging the women in front of the 14-year-old child and encouraging the youngster to take part was “nothing sexual”.

His weird world of BDSM – bondage discipline sadomasochism – was laid bare to jurors during a six-day trial.

Thornhill said he would keep women at his home as his around-the-clock slaves, dress them up in bondage gear and spank them with whips and paddles.

He admitted he had invited the boy to take part in the ritual humiliation – but claimed there was no sexual motive to his “spiritual” alternative lifestyle.

Jurors unanimously found the fetish boss guilty of five counts of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child and six counts of possession of extreme pornography.

The court heard the 59-year-old runs the North Downs Pony Club – a fetish and bondage group where women dress up as horses in bondage gear in Rainham.

Thornhill told the court he kept three female slaves at his home in South Godstone, Surrey, and would allow his pet dog lick his genitals because they had an “overly close relationship”.

The approach to the North Downs Pony Club near Rainham

Jurors heard from Thornhill’s former wife of eight years, who said she was made to dress up in leather before he lashed her with a whip and encouraged her to watch violent films.

Sarah Baker said the couple’s sex life had been normal in the early days of their relationship, but her ex-husband had gradually introduced elements of BDSM.

“I didn’t like it,” she told the jury. “I don’t like pain.”

"It's not about sex. It's about a power exchange..." - Brian 
Thornhill

After she left him in 2000, Thornhill said he kept three female “slaves” at his home.

One stayed for 11 months, another for three months and the third for two weeks.

However, he said there was “nothing sexual about it” when he admitted pulling one of the women’s housecoats down and inviting the 14-year-old boy to flog her.

“I personally don’t think he would have been sexually motivated towards that,” he said.

“To me and to him there was no difference to trying it out on the settee.”

Thornhill was charged after a social worker spotted an online picture of him posing next to a naked woman with the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

During the trial, the fetish boss told the jury his lifestyle was about a “meeting of souls and minds” and described the BDSM lifestyle as being “spiritual”.

“It’s not about sex,” he told the jury at Guildford Crown Court, “it’s about a power exchange.”

Brian Thornhill at Guildford Crown Court. Picture INS News

He was charged after officers, acting on a tip-off, searched his home and found extreme pornographic photographs, as well as 43 video clips of a similar nature.

They also found a BDSM video called Iron Horse, showing an act said to have resulted in or likely to result in serious genital injury.

Following the guilty verdict, Judge Neil Stewart told Thornhill he would delay sentencing until next month so he could have a hospital scan for a growing brain tumour.

Judge Stewart added: “Because of the health issues I will delay sentencing if it is necessary to go for a full pre-sentence report.

“Mr Thornhill should not think that this is in any way an indication of what the sentence will be. All options are open.”

“Revenge Porn” Now a Misdemeanor in California

What happens when a relationship dissolves and a heartbroken ex has a library of nude photos of their former partner?

Charlotte Laws (right) and her daughter Kayla at their Woodland Hills home. Charlotte successfully fought to have her 26-year-old daughter Kayla’s topless photo taken down from a website that featured images of women and men who unwillingly had private nude photos become public. Photo: Ted Soqui

Christina Jedra, USA TODAY

As Millennials become increasingly tech-reliant in all facets of life — including relationships — some are facing unfortunate consequences.

Three out of four college students will be in a long-distance relationship at some point before graduation, according to a study in the Journal of Communication. Sending nude photos to a partner may be one way to maintain the passion.

In fact, a 2011 University of Rhode Island study found that 56% percent of students had received “sexually suggestive images.”

But what happens when a relationship dissolves and a heartbroken ex has a library of nude photos of their former partner?

For some, the answer is “revenge porn,” or posting someone’s sexually explicit image online without their consent.

The action is legal in 48 states — excluding New Jersey and recently, California — and protected under one’s First Amendment rights.

Holly Jacobs, a revenge-porn victim and founder of EndRevengePorn.com, says that this issue uniquely affects Gen Y.

“I would venture to say that most victims that contact me are of the college age,” says Jacobs, who found herself on a revenge porn site as a grad student at Florida International University in 2009. “It’s the Millennials who have grown up with technology and have integrated it into their lives.”

Technology and relationships are increasingly overlapping, but are laws dragging behind?

On Tuesday, the governor of California approved the criminalization of revenge porn. “Distributing private images with the intent to harass or annoy” may be punished by up to six months in jail or a $1,000 fine on a first offense.

However, the statute does not protect victims who took the photos themselves, a group that makes up 80% of revenge porn victims according to a survey by the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative. The law applies only to images that were captured by someone without knowledge or consent of the victim.

Former revenge porn mogul Hunter Moore told tech publication The Register that he doesn’t think the government can stand in the way of websites like the one he started in 2010 — the now-defunct IsAnyoneUp.com.

“This doesn’t stop anything. If you read the bill it is just for peeping toms, not for selfies, which is all revenge porn really is,” he told the Register. “These stupid old white people are even more stupid to think they can stop it … It will just make revenge porn bigger by driving traffic, because people are talking about it.”

Moore added that the Communications Decency Act of 1996 is still in place, a law that protects owners of interactive websites from responsibility for content their users post.

As a victim, Jacobs points out that the California law also specifies a motive — emotional distress of the victim — that can be difficult to prove in court.

“Sometimes people post [revenge porn] to gain acceptance or notoriety on the internet, or even just to make money,” she says, explaining that a victim who initially consented to being photographed would have to prove she was emotionally distressed to win her case.

Gene Policinski, senior vice president of the First Amendment Center, says that civil lawsuits are one option for victims, although they can cause embarrassment and financial burdens.

He added that while California’s recent legislation indicates that the law is catching up with technological advances, lawmakers should be careful not to trample on First Amendment rights.

“Citizens have a right to be concerned anytime a government moves to restrain or punish speech, even if it’s repugnant,” he says. “What may be repugnant to one may not be to another.”

Meeghan Falls, a former Lamar University student, would not have been protected under a law like California’s.

Within a two-year relationship, Falls says she sent countless sexually explicit photos to her boyfriend at the time, a fellow Lamar student.

“After a year and half, you think, ‘I’m going to be with this guy forever,'” says Falls, now 21. “I didn’t have any problems sending these kinds of photos to him.”

The couple eventually split, and about two months later, Falls says she received a Facebook message from a stranger informing her that her photos and other identifying information were on a revenge porn site.

“My stomach dropped. I started shaking. I started crying immediately,” she says. “I felt like the whole world had seen me naked.”

Falls says she is currently in a civil lawsuit against her ex that includes three other women whose images he distributed on revenge porn sites.

Jacobs says that in a world where technology and sexuality overlap so heavily, she rejects the notion that preventing revenge porn means abstaining from taking sexual images.

“When people say that, it’s absolutely another version of blaming the victim. It’s the same thing as someone telling someone who’s been physically raped that they shouldn’t have been wearing that skirt,” she says, adding that she hopes to see further state and federal legislation.

Falls says telling her story is difficult, but she hopes it can prevent her experience from happening to someone else.

“I trusted this man … foolishly, but I trusted this man to keep [the photos] private, confidential,” she says. “As long as we can stop other girls from doing this and having this done to them, as long as something positive can come out of this, it would be just wonderful.”

Falls, who is now engaged to be married, says the betrayal she experienced hasn’t made her cynical.

“I don’t want people to think that they shouldn’t trust anyone, but just be careful who you do trust,” she says. “Make sure they’re worthy of it.”

Michigan Man Allegedly Possessed 32,000 Images of Child Pornography

Jeffrey Victor Marchione

By John Agar | jagar@mlive.com 

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – An Alto man facing child-pornography charges tried to kill himself with prescription drugs when police showed up to arrest him for sexual assault of a teen-ager, a federal prosecutor said.

Jeffrey Victor Marchione, who allegedly possessed 32,000 images of child pornography and advertised on the Internet for more, was free on bond when Kent County sheriff’s deputies showed up at his home earlier this month.

As police arrested him for third-degree criminal-sexual conduct and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, Marchione overdosed on prescription medication, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tessa Hessmiller wrote in documents filed Monday, Aug. 19.

Marchione was hospitalized two days.

Related: Child-porn suspect worked as counselor, mentor, foster parent in Grand Rapids area

Related: Kent County man has 32,000 images of child porn, advertises for more, indictment says

Related:Teen ‘disgusted’ by child-pornography allegations against Alto counselor

He is currently held on $50,000 in the Kent County Correctional Facility, but federal prosecutors want him locked up on the federal charges if he is able to post bond on the state charges.

“The defendant stated while at the hospital that he wanted to die,” Hessmiller wrote in her motion to revoke bond.

“While the natural death of any defendant cannot be prevented, a suicide attempt by a defendant on bond that is serious enough to require two days of hospitalization demonstrates a deliberate effort not to appear for future legal proceedings,” she wrote.

Marchione, a counselor, foster parent and mentor to many boys, was arrested in June by the FBI after he allegedly advertised for child pornography. He also shared a 150-page manifesto on how to find and molest children without the children telling anyone, the government said in court records.

The government did not seek to have Marchione locked up upon his arrest on federal charges, but later sought detention after learning that Marchione allegedly molested a boy two or three years ago, record said.

Because prosecutors did not seek detention at Marchione’s early court appearances, they could not ask later, a magistrate judge ruled.

The prosecution thinks that Marchione has violated terms of his release.

Marchione, who is married, has put himself in position to be around children, and said in an Internet chat he was attracted to boys between 10 and 14, an FBI special agent testified earlier.

His adult children have supported him in court.

 

Britain Opts to Filter Internet Porn

Cleaning up the net: David Cameron. Photo: Bloomberg

Adam Turner

Internet pornography will be blocked in all British homes next year, unless customers opt out of the filtering scheme, in a move that could reignite Australia’s own internet filtering debate.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has called on internet service providers to make ”family-friendly” filters the default setting for all customers by the end of 2014, with account holders having the right to opt out. The ISP-level filtering will automatically apply to all wired and wireless devices connected to a home internet service, rather than requiring the installation of filtering software on each device.

The government has also reached an agreement with Britain’s biggest public Wi-Fi hot-spot providers to enforce family-friendly filters ”wherever children are likely to be”, Cameron said.

The British filtering scheme is part of a wide range of measures designed to protect children from exposure to online pornography, with plans to teach children about online safety at school as part of the national curriculum. Meanwhile, an advertising campaign will also educate parents regarding online child safety.

Search engine giants Google, Yahoo! and Bing must also do more to combat child pornography, Cameron said. The British government plans to issue search engines with a list of banned search terms, with threats of legislative action if the bans are not implemented.

Cameron’s announcement came eight months after former Australian Communications Minister Stephen Conroy abandoned a three-year campaign to introduce ISP-level internet filtering. Rather than adopting far-reaching pornography filtering, Australian ISPs instead block Interpol’s list of about 1400 child-pornography sites.

Australians were not offered the option to opt out of filtering, and limited oversight of the scheme led to concerns regarding censorship. Critics also claim family-friendly filtering can give parents a false sense of security, saying filters are not 100 per cent accurate and can be easily bypassed, even by children, using free proxy servers and virtual private network tools.