Sudbury police say social media posts being used to solicit intimate images without consent

Greater Sudbury Police are warning people to be careful about the pictures they post on social media, and say these pictures could be used to solicit intimate images on anonymous message boards and chat applications.

The cybercrime unit has recently received five complaints in connection with an app called Discord, according to Detective Sergeant Blair Ramsay.

"So they're taking, say a picture off of some type of social media that's a benign picture, just a regular picture of someone, posting it on this website and then asking other people to send them intimate images of that person if they're out there," Ramsay explained.

He added that similar complaints were made several years ago about an anonymous image board called Anon-IB.

Images a legal grey area

In Canada the Criminal Code prohibits publishing, distributing, transmitting, selling or making available an intimate image of a person without their consent.

This includes what is commonly known as "revenge porn" when someone posts intimate images of a former partner online after a breakup.

Ramsay said the complaints Sudbury police have received are different from revenge porn and fall into a legal grey area.

"It doesn't really meet the criteria for distribution of intimate images because that falls on the person who's actually distributing them," he explained.

"So the laws aren't quite there yet, that would cover this sort of scenario."

Shame, humiliation for victims

The complaints to police are concerning but not at all surprising to Elia Eliev, a women's studies professor at Thornloe Univeristy in Sudbury.

Eliev, whose research explores digital media and sexuality, said these complaints are part of a larger trend of sharing intimate images online without consent.

Other examples include revenge porn and digitally altering images of people to look like they are engaging in sexually explicit acts.

Often these images will be posted with identifying information like names, email addresses, phone numbers and social media account.

"What that has led to is either the experience of online or face-to-face harassment, stalking and threats," Elievsaid.

"The distribution of these images has caused shame, humiliation to the victims and also to the friends and family members."

More men being affected

Sudbury police have received complaints from women and men, Ramsay said, both in these cases and in cases of revenge porn.

Eliev said it's becoming more common to see men affected.

"Over the past years we've seen that of course women have mostly been the targets of these types of sites," Elievsaid. "But we're also seeing now that gay men, especially young gay men, are now being targets."

This could be especially problematic for gay youth in northern Ontario who might gravitate to the internet to find a sense of community, he explained.

"Sometimes there isn't that community that we might find in larger cities, like in Toronto or Montreal or Vancouver. And therefore the only community that we could create is through these new apps that we could have on our phones ... and sometimes we give too much information and we become vulnerable."

Know the terms and conditions

One way to ensure people are not vulnerable online is to become familiar with privacy policies on social media, Ramsay said.

"Make sure you know your terms and conditions on the website," he said. "The terms and conditions on most websites, they're pretty clear on what you can do with your images. Basically you don't own those images after you put them up on their website."

The cybercrime unit does also suggest people avoid taking and sharing intimate images.

"Once those images are out there or given to someone else you relinquish control of those images and you don't know what's going to happen to them, even if you ultimately trust that person."

For his part, Elievadvocates for more education for young people on topics like consent, protecting privacy on social media and the legal process for reporting or having intimate images removed from websites.

He also cautions against victim blaming and the idea that people shouldn't share intimate images if they want to be safe.

"That's actually directed to the wrong people," he said. "Everyone should be free to express their sexuality as they choose as long as it doesn't hurt anybody, and that includes if they wish to take or share any type of private images without being fearful that they may be distributed without their consent."