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Intimate Images & Cyberbullying - Criminal Code

Relevant Sections of the Criminal Code

162.1 Nonconsensual distribution of “intimate images”.
162.1 (1) Everyone who knowingly publishes, distributes, transmits, sells, makes available or advertises an intimate image of a person knowing that the person depicted in the image did not give their consent to that conduct, or being reckless as to whether or not that person gave their consent to that conduct, is guilty

  1. of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than five years; or
  2. of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

Definition of “intimate image”
(2) In this section, “intimate image” means a visual recording of a person made by any means including a photographic, film or video recording,

  1. in which the person is nude, is exposing his or her genital organs or anal region or her breasts or is engaged in explicit sexual activity;
  2. in respect of which, at the time of the recording, there were circumstances that gave rise to a reasonable expectation of privacy; and
  3. in respect of which the person depicted retains a reasonable expectation of privacy at the time the offence is committed.

Defence
(3) No person shall be convicted of an offence under this section if the conduct that forms the subject-matter of the charge serves the public good and does not extend beyond what serves the public good.

Question of fact and law, motives
(4) For the purposes of subsection (3),

  1. it is a question of law whether the conduct serves the public good and whether there is evidence that the conduct alleged goes beyond what serves the public good, but it is a question of fact whether the conduct does or does not extend beyond what serves the public good; and
  2. the motives of an accused are irrelevant.

Prohibition order
162.2 (1) When an offender is convicted, or is discharged on the conditions prescribed in a probation order under section 730, of an offence referred to in subsection 162.1(1), the court that sentences or discharges the offender, in addition to any other punishment that may be imposed for that offence or any other condition prescribed in the order of discharge, may make, subject to the conditions or exemptions that the court directs, an order prohibiting the offender from using the Internet or other digital network, unless the offender does so in accordance with conditions set by the court.

Duration of prohibition
(2) The prohibition may be for any period that the court considers appropriate, including any period to which the offender is sentenced to imprisonment.

Court may vary order
(3) A court that makes an order of prohibition or, if the court is for any reason unable to act, another court of equivalent jurisdiction in the same province may, on application of the offender or the prosecutor, require the offender to appear before it at any time and, after hearing the parties, that court may vary the conditions prescribed in the order if, in the opinion of the court, the variation is desirable because of changed circumstances after the conditions were prescribed.

Offence
(4) Every person who is bound by an order of prohibition and who does not comply with the order is guilty of

  1. an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years; or
  2. an offence punishable on summary conviction.
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