Focus: The rise of revenge porn in New Zealand

Robert Kardashian is in serious hot water after sharing nude images of ex-girlfriend Blac Chyna to his Instagram and Twitter following. His former flame and the mother of his daughter, Dream, Chyna responded to the images by taking the Kardashian to court.

The outcome has been a victory for Chyna who now has a series of restraining orders against the reality TV star both in physical proximity and online.

And while the Kardashian fronts up to his crimes, trends show that revenge porn is a growing issue not just overseas and among the Hollywood set, but here in New Zealand, too.

Focus presenter Laura McGoldrick spoke to the Director of Outreach for Net Safe, Sean Lyons, to find out about the extent of the crime here and what we can do about it.

HOW COMMON IS REVENGE PORN IN NZ?

Lyons says it's an act that has become "unfortunately fairly common" here, as couples willingly share images in the happy stages of their relationships.

"Taking pictures has become quite a normal part of a lot of healthy relationships."

But he says Net Safe repeatedly sees that when those relationships and trust breaks down "one of the mechanisms for revenge or for manipulation of an ex partner is to either threaten or actually post these kinds of images. So unfortunately it is something we're seeing more and more often."

LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

There are two different paths victims of revenge porn can pursue through the New Zealand legal system, says Lyons.

"In New Zealand we have laws that directly stipulate that you can't post things online with the specific intent to cause somebody serious emotional distress.

"There are civil actions that an individual can take."

Lyons advice is that if you are feeling distressed by what is shared online you can seek to have it removed fairly quickly though Net Safe. Or if that doesn't happen quickly enough, you can take things through your district court and have measures taken against it that way.

"At the more severe end there's a criminal sanction. The police can actually press charges against people who do this and have done several times since the law has been around."

A VICTIM'S RIGHTS

Lyons stresses the importance of reporting these crimes and making sure that you don't allow these images to sit on the internet for too long.

"There's two ends of the scale. A lot of people will see it happening and report it really quickly because they know there's a desperate need to take it down ... But in some cases people would hope that it becomes yesterday's news very quickly, that it goes away and in fact the more attention you draw to it the worse it may get."

But, says Lyons, "closing your eyes and hoping it goes away" is not the right approach.

"With any kind of harmful content online, generally the faster it comes down, the less the harm is."

SHOULD YOU STOP SHARING IMAGES WITH YOUR PARTNER?

You may be thinking, when are people going to learn from this and stop sharing saucy snaps?

But, as Lyons notes in the Kardashian-Chyna case, the images that wind up being shared as revenge porn are usually sent during a period of trust between two consenting people.

"This is not covert imaging. This is not him snapping pictures. These are two consenting individuals who took those pictures. I don't think that's going to stop."

Lyons says with this crime, the trouble arises later when relationships break down.

"When we have a lack of trust afterwards, that's the issue. When it's going to stop, I don't know. New Zealand is taking measures to get that content removed quicker, other countries are doing the same.

"I think it's probably always going to be about the response that we can do (sic) and the support we can give to people who find themselves in this position, rather than it ever stopping in the first place."