Bare necessities: the argument for a ‘revenge porn’ exception in Section 230 immunity

‘Revenge porn’ is the online posting of nude or sexually explicit photographs or videos of a former lover without his or her consent. Despite the malicious intent behind revenge porn, victims are provided with little to no relief due to Section 230 of the Federal Communications Decency Act, also known as the ‘Good Samaritan’ provisions. Section 230 unambiguously provides blanket immunity for website operators and Internet service providers that feature user-generated content, including revenge porn.

In Section 1, I discuss the purpose of Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act. In Section 2, I analyze the legal impact of the blanket immunity established in Section 230. In Section 3, I examine the potential remedies already in existence for revenge porn victims and highlight their inadequacies. In Section 4, I argue Congress should create a narrow exception to Section 230 immunity specifically geared toward revenge porn. The exception would establish a definition of revenge porn, which would prevent over-deterrence. Additionally, the exception would institute a takedown procedure similar to the process found in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. In creating a narrow exception, the spirit of Section 230 will remain while also providing adequate legal relief for victims of revenge porn.     

论希腊神话中的复仇母题

复仇是人类社会实践历程中都盛行过的一种特殊的历史文化现象,复仇母题在希腊神话中得到了最丰富而生动的体现。我们根据复仇行为的动机、复仇主体和其中所表现的法律伦理价值,可以将希腊神话中的复仇母题归纳为血亲复仇、荣誉复仇、情爱复仇这三类形态。     

Forgiveness, forbearance, and time: The temporal unfolding of transgression-related interpersonal motivations.

The investigators proposed that transgression-related interpersonal motivations result from 3 psychological parameters: forbearance (abstinence from avoidance and revenge motivations, and maintenance of benevolence), trend forgiveness (reductions in avoidance and revenge, and increases in benevolence), and temporary forgiveness (transient reductions in avoidance and revenge, and transient increases in benevolence). In 2 studies, the investigators examined this 3-parameter model. Initial ratings of transgression severity and empathy were directly related to forbearance but not trend forgiveness. Initial responsibility attributions were inversely related to forbearance but directly related to trend forgiveness. When people experienced high empathy and low responsibility attributions, they also tended to experience temporary forgiveness. The distinctiveness of each of these 3 parameters underscores the importance of studying forgiveness temporally. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Getting even or moving on? Power, procedural justice, and types of offense as predictors of revenge, forgiveness, reconciliation, and avoidance in organizations.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 92(1) of Journal of Applied Psychology (see record 2006-23339-006). The first sentence in the first paragraph on page 660 is incorrect. The corrected sentence should read as follows: "The patterns of all three interactions support our theoretical explanation that (a) a victim of lower status than the offender pursues revenge as the only means of achieving justice when procedural justice climate is low and (b) victims with high absolute status refrain from revenge by attempting forgiveness and reconciliation when procedural justice climate is high because the organization can be counted on to mete out justice."] A field study and an experimental study examined relationships among organizational variables and various responses of victims to perceived wrongdoing. Both studies showed that procedural justice climate moderates the effect of organizational variables on the victim's revenge, forgiveness, reconciliation, or avoidance behaviors. In Study 1, a field study, absolute hierarchical status enhanced forgiveness and reconciliation, but only when perceptions of procedural justice climate were high; relative hierarchical status increased revenge, but only when perceptions of procedural justice climate were low. In Study 2, a laboratory experiment, victims were less likely to endorse vengeance or avoidance depending on the type of wrongdoing, but only when perceptions of procedural justice climate were high. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When employees strike back: Investigating mediating mechanisms between psychological contract breach and workplace deviance.

In this article, psychological contract breach, revenge, and workplace deviance are brought together to identify the cognitive, affective, and motivational underpinnings of workplace deviance. On the basis of S. L. Robinson and R. J. Bennett's (1997) model of workplace deviance, the authors proposed that breach (a cognitive appraisal) and violation (an affective response) initiate revenge seeking. Motivated by revenge, employees then engage in workplace deviance. Three studies tested these ideas. All of the studies supported the hypothesized relationships. In addition, self-control was found to be a moderator of the relationship between revenge cognitions and deviant acts; the relationship was weaker for people high in self-control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The road to forgiveness: A meta-analytic synthesis of its situational and dispositional correlates.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 137(2) of Psychological Bulletin (see record 2011-03899-006). In Table 2, weighted population correlations and associated standard errors and confidence intervals are incorrectly reported. In Table 3, weighted population correlations and associated confidence intervals are incorrectly reported, as well as the Q statistic for trait forgiveness. Corrected data are presented. The authors note that substantive interpretations of the results are not affected by the corrections. The median absolute value correction for the weighted population correlations in both tables is r = .01.] Forgiveness has received widespread attention among psychologists from social, personality, clinical, developmental, and organizational perspectives alike. Despite great progress, the forgiveness literature has witnessed few attempts at empirical integration. Toward this end, we meta-analyze results from 175 studies and 26,006 participants to examine the correlates of interpersonal forgiveness (i.e., forgiveness of a single offender by a single victim). A tripartite forgiveness typology is proposed, encompassing victims' (a) cognitions, (b) affect, and (c) constraints following offense, with each consisting of situational and dispositional components. We tested hypotheses with respect to 22 distinct constructs, as correlates of forgiveness, that have been measured across different fields within psychology. We also evaluated key sample and study characteristics, including gender, age, time, and methodology as main effects and moderators. Results highlight the multifaceted nature of forgiveness. Variables with particularly notable effects include intent (r? = ?.49), state empathy (r? = .51), apology (r? = .42), and state anger (r? = ?.41). Consistent with previous theory, situational constructs are shown to account for greater variance in forgiveness than victim dispositions, although within-category differences are considerable. Sample and study characteristics yielded negligible effects on forgiveness, despite previous theorizing to the contrary: The effect of gender was nonsignificant (r? = .01), and the effect of age was negligible (r? = .06). Preliminary evidence suggests that methodology may exhibit some moderating effects. Scenario methodologies led to enhanced effects for cognitions; recall methodologies led to enhanced effects for affect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exploring the role of individual differences in the prediction of workplace aggression.

This study investigates the relationship between individual differences and the incidence of workplace aggression in a sample of employees from a transportation company and a public school system. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that measures of trait anger, attribution style, negative affectivity, attitudes toward revenge, self-control, and previous exposure to aggressive cultures accounted for 62% of the variance in the participants' self-reported incidence of workplace aggression. Further research on workplace aggression is advocated, focusing on the role of individual differences and their interactions with organizational and group-level variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reflections on the costs and benefits of exacting revenge in romantic relationships.

The present investigation explored individuals' (N = 58) retrospective accounts of the costs and benefits associated with acts of revenge they had committed against a current or past romantic partner. Content analysis of participants' responses to a semistructured interview revealed that, consistent with claims that revenge can have constructive as well as destructive consequences, participants described both good and bad outcomes associated with their vengeful acts. There was little evidence, however, that they perceived the consequences of revenge as achieving prosocial ends (i.e., as having benefited their partners/relationships or others) and, overall, participants seemed to believe that they, rather than others, had profited from their vengeful actions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Et in Arcadia ego,Et in Arcadia est

Architect, academic and broadcaster Kevin Rhowbotham scrutinises the reasoning and value of the New Pastoralism project. He dispels the Arcadian impulse as ‘a specious and mythicised image of the rural’, calling upon architects to seek a true understanding of rural conditions in relation to the urban.     

欲望与复仇——美狄亚原型在现代中国

古希腊神话中的美狄亚原型在五四时期传入中国,这一原型有着欲望与复仇两大特点,其衍生出的人物群也广泛地流布于新文学作品中,产生了深远的影响。美狄亚原型的嬗变和20世纪中国女性文学发展的联系从未中断过,因为欲望代表着女性自身的觉醒,而复仇是女性面对男权文化压抑时所唯一能采取的手段。只要这种现状没有改变,美狄亚原型将始终会在我们的文学中借尸还魂。