A new Web site was launched yesterday to provide legal assistance for victims of “revenge porn” — sexually explicit photographs or film clips disseminated online without consent, often with the intention to seek revenge or damage the reputation of the pictured individual.
Members of the Taiwan Women’s Rescue Foundation said that 157 cases of “revenge porn” were reported in Taiwan over the past three years — and 94.9 percent of the victims were women — the youngest being 13 years old.
A majority of the cases involved former partners seeking revenge or reconciliation after a breakup, the group said, adding that some of the perpetrators used explicit images to demand monetary or sexual favors.
The foundation said they launched the Web site to offer counseling services and emotional support to the victims, adding that it was important for the victims to stop blaming themselves for these increasingly common cases of “intimate violence.”
“Even if one gives consent to have their [nude] image taken, it does not automatically give others the right to disseminate the content; any act of recklessly disseminating private images is condemnable as criminal behavior,” foundation executive director Kang Shu-hua (康淑華) said.
She said that it was important for the victims to seek assistance and urged members of the public to empathize with them.
Attorney Chou Han-wei (周漢威) said acts of disseminating “revenge porn” violated articles of the Criminal Code relating to the distribution of obscene materials and slander.
The foundation also established a telephone hotline that offers free counseling services for victims.
The issue of “revenge porn” was highlighted in the media following a recent incident in which Internet personality Cheng Chia-chen (鄭佳甄) — known as “Chicken Cutlet Girl” (雞排妹) — posted an image from an anonymous sex tape on Facebook, refuting allegations which implied that she was the woman filmed in the video.
Cheng’s post sparked further controversy when it was revealed that the young woman in the video clip attempted to commit suicide on Monday.
The woman’s family said that the video clip was originally uploaded by her ex-boyfriend as an act of revenge more than three years ago. They said that Cheng’s post — which failed to cover the woman’s face — had brought the family unwanted exposure.
Commenting on the incident, the foundation said that media reports of such cases should refrain from exposing the explicit images again to prevent further harm to the victims.
The telephone hotline is (02) 2555-8595 extension 31 or 32.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS