Vermont Supreme Court upholds revenge porn law

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — The Vermont Supreme Court has upheld a law making it a crime to share nude or sexual images of individuals without their knowledge or consent.

The court’s Friday decision said so-called “revenge porn” is excluded from free speech law because it aims to harass or humiliate victims.

Vermont’s 2015 law makes revenge porn a misdemeanor and critics say it abridges free speech. The Rutland Herald reports a state judge in 2016 dismissed a revenge porn charge because of such concerns with Vermont’s law.

The justices said Vermont must respond to legal arguments from the woman facing the revenge porn charge.

But justices said Vermont’s law was narrow enough to avoid running afoul of the First Amendment. One judge dissented and said the state has other ways to protect individual privacy.