$6.4 Million Judgment in Revenge Porn Case Is Among Largest Ever

Strangers sent her explicit texts and emails. Some said they were on their way to her home. She began to fear for her life.

In 2014, the woman, who was listed as Jane Doe in court documents to protect her identity, sued her former boyfriend, David K. Elam II, in United States District Court in California to get him to stop. Four years passed, until the court awarded her $6.4 million on April 4, in one of the biggest judgments ever in a so-called revenge porn case.

The case represents a battle line that is being drawn in an age when couples share intimate photographs and videos online — and then break up. It has also highlighted the complex web of state and federal laws that lawyers must navigate in revenge porn cases.

“The law in this area is imperfect and has been for some time,” said Elisa D’Amico, a lawyer who specializes in internet privacy and abuse and who worked on the case. It is, she added, “lagging behind technology.”

The California case was one of the first lawsuits filed by the Cyber Civil Rights Legal Project, an initiative started in 2014 by K&L Gates, a Pittsburgh law firm, to litigate against online harassment and the nonconsensual posting of explicit material, often involving a former girlfriend or a spouse. Ms. D’Amico, in the firm’s Miami office, is a leader of the initiative.

Most states have laws that can be used to address revenge porn, but they vary widely. They include laws against criminal invasion of privacy, voyeurism, impersonation or fraud, harassment and stalking.

On the federal level, courses of action include copyright infringement and computer fraud and abuse claims, according to Without My Consent, a nonprofit organization that combats online invasions of privacy and breaks down the legal remedies that are possible in all 50 states.

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