Google kills NY revenge porn bill
Google kills revenge porn bill
By Kirstan Conley and Gabrielle Fonrouge June 21, 2018 |
2:31am
New York’s revenge porn bill died early Thursday after
the Senate adjourned for the year and took no action in the wake of an
11th-hour campaign by Google against the legislation.
The proposal — which has languished in Albany since its
introduction in 2013 and was recently taken up again after a Post exposé —
would have made nonconsensual dissemination of sexually explicit images a
misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.
It would have also helped victims sue web hosts to remove
the offending images.
But Google mounted a late effort against the bill, with
the internet behemoth opposed to any government oversight of how it regulates
content.
Attorney Carrie Goldberg, who’d been leading lobbying
efforts for the bill, was livid that senators went home without even taking a
vote, effectively killing the legislation until next year.
The only long-shot chance for the bill is if lawmakers
decide to come back for a special session, though it’s not clear whether that
will happen.
“It’s deeply disturbing that Google and tech lobbyists
were quiet as a church mouse for the five years this bill has been percolating
in Albany and then literally the morning it’s up for vote, they bulldoze in
with coercive demands on our lawmakers to change the language,” Goldberg said.
“It’s a disgrace how weak our lawmakers look for bowing
down to these tech corporate overlords.”
The Internet Association — an influential lobbying group
working on behalf of Google and a host of other websites used to disseminate
revenge porn — fought the bill, which has passed the Assembly but needed Senate
approval.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo had pledged to sign the bill, had the
measure made it to his desk.
The legislation’s sponsor, state Sen. Phil Boyle (R-Bay
Shore), said he plans to continue to push for the bill’s passage.
But Boyle’s pledge didn’t placate Goldberg, who accused
lawmakers of being in the pocket of “Big Tech.”
“There could be no better showing of what unfettered
power big tech has on our government. It’s sickening. Any claims they make that
big tech is aligned with victims of revenge porn are as hollow as Trump saying
he’s aligned with separated immigrant families facing deportation,” she said.
“Big Tech, especially Google, created the revenge porn
problem. And now, just as we were about to enable victims to demand removal of
their most intimate material from the internet via this law, Google renews its
abuse.”
A rep for Google could not be reached for comment.
Additional reporting by Julia Marsh, Max Jaeger and David
K. Li
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