The South Australian government wants to make it an offence to post violent or other degrading images on the internet.

Attorney-General John Rau said the state's proposed legislation, to be introduced this year, would be the first of its kind in Australia, or we guess any where in the world. The law will make it illegal to take or publish humiliating, demeaning or degrading images of another person without their consent.  The operative words here are without their consent.

Rau claimed it would tackle thugs who filmed assaults and then posted them on the internet although we would have thought that it could also be used to defend politicians from saterical photoshopping.

Rau said that the  government wants to make it very clear that if a person participates in any way in an act of this sort, then the consequences will be severe and they could go to jail. It will be up to the person charged to prove that they had a legitimate purpose for filming the event, other than humiliating, degrading or demeaning the victim, he said.

More here.