The mother of a teenage girl who has become the face of online blackmail in Canada said she was thrilled to hear British Columbia was planning changes to the law to protect people sharing private photos without their consent. I’m talking
Carol Todd said the law is an important step to prevent other young people from being similarly victimized.
Attorney General Niki Sharma introduced a bill in Congress on Monday that would stop the distribution of intimate images and create new legal rights and remedies that would allow injured people to seek compensation for damages.
Todd said his daughter would be proud of her progress.
Amanda Todd of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia committed suicide in 2012 at the age of 15. Shortly after, she posted a video explaining that she was tormented by her anonymous harassers using Flash cards.
The video has been viewed over 15 million times.
“Had she been alive and seeing and hearing us, she would definitely have been grinning at us and giving us a big cheer,” Todd said at a press conference. “This is her dream of helping her children, which she has always wanted.”
At a press conference, Sharma said the law covers intimate images, near-nude photos, videos, livestreams, and digitally altered images, including videos known as deepfakes.
Violators must either delete or destroy the images or order the social media platform to remove them and remove the images from search engines, she explained.
“The Intimate Images Protection Act sends a clear message that disseminating or threatening to distribute intimate images is sexual violence and can have devastating consequences. That’s it,” Sharma said.
The Civil Settlement Court, an online court that is part of British Columbia’s justice system, also provides information about people’s rights, provides access to immediate self-help tools, and connects them to mental health support. We are working to extend the portal to
If the bill is approved, Sharma said the law would be applied retroactively or made available to prosecutors as far back as the time it was filed on Monday.
“This is a reminder that people who distribute or threaten to distribute personal images without their consent face new legal consequences, even if the wrongdoing occurs before the law comes into force. It means that it is
The announcement comes as police across Canada are warning parents and young people about an increase in online sextortion of young people, where criminals threaten to share sexual images unless they are paid. will be split.
Cybertip, a tip line run by the Canadian Center for Child Protection, also reports an average of 70 youth sextortion reports per week.
“We fell short when Amanda died,” Carol Todd said in an interview before the press conference. “We thought it was a one-time thing. No one knew what (sextortion) was, but now, ten years later, it’s rampant among young children.
Dutch national Aydin Covan was convicted by the BC Supreme Court last year on charges of extortion, harassment and distributing child pornography in a teenage case.
At the time, Carol Todd was calling for legislative changes to protect young people, including including the term sextortion in criminal law.
“In the back of my mind, I never thought British Columbia could do it, but today it shows it did,” she said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on March 6, 2023.
