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Navy, Marines Prohibit Sharing Nude Photos In Wake of a Facebook Scandal (fortune.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the sign-on-the-dotted-line dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Fortune: The Navy and Marine Corps issued new regulations that ban members from sharing nude photographs following a scandal involving military personnel sharing intimate pictures of their female colleagues -- some of which were taken without their knowledge -- in a secret Facebook group. The new statute, which was signed Tuesday by Acting Navy Secretary Sean Stackley, went into effect immediately and will be made permanent when the next edition of the Navy's regulations is printed, according to Navy Times. Military courts will handle violations of the new rule. The crackdown comes after a Facebook group was uncovered featuring naked photos of female service members. The group was eventually shut down by Facebook after a request from the Marine Corps. The Center for Investigative Reporting found that some of the photographs posted on the Facebook group may have been taken consensually, but others may not have been.

8 of 132 comments (clear)

  1. The Village People will be upset by jfdavis668 · · Score: 4, Funny

    No reason now to be "in the Navy"

  2. Good luck with that! by TWX · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Good luck with this policy. At best a few sailors or marines will be busted each year for their stupidity, but the vast majority of incidents will never see any enforcement.

    I've never been in the armed services but I was under the impression that one of the most important rules for those in authority was do not give orders that one knows will not be followed. Issuing orders that won't be followed helps destroy one's own authority.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    1. Re: Good luck with that! by Fire_Wraith · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm guessing you've never served in the Armed Forces.

      Part of what it means to be in the military is that you're expected to look out for your buddies, whether male or female. You're supposed to be able to count on them to have your back, and you theirs. The military is expected to act as groups, not as a gaggle of individuals, and spends lots of time training to do exactly that..

      Personally, I'd believe that this sort of conduct was already punishable under a number of UCMJ articles - certainly under Article 134, "Conduct Prejudicial to Good Order and Discipline." I'm not a military lawyer (or lawyer at all), but depending on circumstances there's a number of other Articles that such activity would likely be in violation of. Regardless of that, though, this kind of conduct is utterly toxic for any sort of unit, and I'm not in the least surprised that they're cracking down on it.

  3. as usual, title and summary incorrect by iggymanz · · Score: 5, Informative

    sharing of "intimate images" (defined) that were taken without consent is what is prohibited:

    2. Article 1168 of reference (a) is added to read as follows:
            a. 1168. Nonconsensual distribution or broadcasting of an image
                    (1) The wrongful distribution or broadcasting of an intimate image is
    prohibited.
                    (2) The distribution or broadcasting is wrongful if the person making
    the distribution or broadcast does so without legal justification or excuse,
    knows or reasonably should know that the depicted person did not consent to
    the disclosure, and the intimate image is distributed or broadcast:
                            (a) With the intent to realize personal gain;
                            (b) With the intent to humiliate, harm, harass, intimidate,
    threaten, or coerce the depicted person; or
                            (c) With reckless disregard as to whether the depicted person
    would be humiliated, harmed, intimidated, threatened, or coerced.

    1. Re:as usual, title and summary incorrect by AthanasiusKircher · · Score: 4, Informative

      Thanks for the text, though your summary doesn't quite say the same thing as the text. You said it prohibits sharing of intimate images "that were taken without consent," but what this text actually bans is sharing of intimate images where "the depicted person did not consent to the disclosure." The word "disclosure" isn't defined, but presumably it would also cover instances where the TAKING of the image was consensual but the DISTRIBUTION was NOT consensual.

    2. Re:as usual, title and summary incorrect by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Informative

      sharing of "intimate images" (defined) that were taken without consent is what is prohibited:

      Not quite. Not only the "taking", but also the "distribution" must be consensual. So just because your GF lets you photo her boobs, that doesn't give you the right to share the photo with others.

  4. Re:Ick by Imrik · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You may have missed the part where a many of the pictures were taken without the knowledge of the subjects.

  5. Re:USMC and USN are separate military services by Deadstick · · Score: 4, Informative

    Separate but pretty intertwined. Marines hold some of the same shipboard positions as sailors, and the USMC has no medical corps -- it goes into action with Navy corpsmen.