Be Cautious With Images You Choose to Send 

#LSN_Crime   Your intimate images can  appear various sites

THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO   December 20, 2017  (LSN)  The Thunder Bay Police Service would like to remind individuals that any time they send a nude image of themselves that there is the potential for it to be uploaded to file sharing and/or social media sites without their consent.

In November, the TBPS received four reports from complainants that had become aware of intimate images of themselves on various sites. Each of the complainants had previously sent images to another person.

Investigations by the Cyber Crime Unit has determined that the origin of these sites appear to be from out of country.

This proves to be problematic when investigators try to request information as to where the images came from and the laws that govern that country. Although the internet has pulled the world together to quickly communicate and access information, the laws of the land differ significantly from country to country.

As with many social media sites, anonymous accounts are usually used to upload images. This also adds to the difficulty in determining the individual responsible for the uploading of the images.

The Criminal Code of Canada Section 162.1(1) outlines that it is an offence to knowingly publish, 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.
Police want to reinforce that to avoid victimization, do not send images to anyone. A lost phone or a change in relationship status can ultimately end up with these images going public and quickly shared anywhere.