September 29, 2023–Due Process Institute and other civil liberties organizations urged members of Congress to oppose the Stopping Harmful Image Exploitation and Limiting Distribution (SHIELD) Act of 2023 (S. 412), which would create a new federal crime carrying a one-to-five-year prison sentence for sharing intimate photos of a person without that person’s consent. This bill is well intentioned, but it will sweep in and criminalize innocent conduct and worsen the trial penalty that many criminal defendants—including many people who are actually innocent—face in our justice system.
For example, if a person receives, unsolicited, an intimate image from an acquaintance and in turn forwards the image to a friend or family member—not for the purpose of “seeking support or help”—but instead to express surprise or displeasure, then that person will have committed a crime under the current version of the SHIELD Act. And that should not be. The communication in this example is plainly innocent conduct. Equally plainly, it is protected speech. Yet, under the SHIELD Act, the victim of an unsolicited sexual communication could easily find themselves prosecuted.
This version of the SHIELD Act still places too much discretion in the hands of law enforcement and prosecutors for fair application, and potentially criminalizes innocent conduct. The bill’s goals of protecting privacy could be better advanced by a more narrowly tailored proposal that does not unnecessarily sweep up protected speech on both public and private matters.