MPAA opposes proposed Minnesota revenge porn law, says it limits speech

(credit: Leon Homan)

Hollywood's lobbying arm, the Motion Picture Association of America, is opposing a proposed Minnesota revenge porn law on grounds that it could overly restrict speech. This is the same MPAA that fiercely supported the Stop Online Piracy Act of 2012. Known as SOPA, many claimed that legislation would also curtail free speech because SOPA could lead to the removal of domains that host infringing material.

In a letter to Minnesota lawmakers, the MPAA said HF 27411 "could limit the distribution of a wide array of mainstream, Constitutionally protected material, including items of legitimate news, commentary, and historical interest. These items are part of news, public affairs, entertainment or sports programming, and are distributed in motion pictures, television programs, audiovisual works of all kinds, via the Internet and other media." The group added that "images of Holocaust victims, or prisoners at Abu Ghraib, or the Pulitzer-Prize winning photograph entitled 'Napalm Girl'—which shows a young girl running screaming from her village, naked, following a Napalm attack—could be prohibited under the terms of this legislation."

The bill cleared a House committee on Friday. If approved, it would add to the growing number of revenge porn bills nationwide—now at 27. There is no federal revenge porn law, and to varying degrees, these state revenge porn laws prohibit sharing sexually explicit photos of people without their consent. The MPAA's bone of contention on Minnesota's bill is that the person who releases the explicit photos or videos doesn't have to mentally want to harm or humiliate the person in the images.

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