Between the perpetrator and the victim: The role of internet intermediaries on violations against women

Abstract

The current article consists of an investigation on the treatment of the dissemination of non-consensual intimate images (NCII) in 11 countries, a phenomenon popularly known as “revengeporn”. This is the second stage of a major research initiative which has resulted in the book "The Body is the Code: legal strategies of confronting revengeporn in Brazil." In this article, we explore the policies that relate to intermediaries, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), from the point of view of their own policies and state regulation, which usually revolves around the liability of the ISPs. We analyze how this issue is categorized and classified, and how gender relations of this specific type of violence are regarded. In light of the results, this article tries to bring new elements for the debate on how to build policies that deal with gender and privacy on the Internet, from different perspectives.