Hilary Young: Civil Recourse for Non-Consensual Disclosure of Intimate Images [video]

On February 15, Hilary Young delivered the talk, “Civil Recourse for Non-Consensual Disclosure of Intimate Images,” as part of the Human Rights and Media Lecture Series at St. Thomas University. The talk is now available for viewing here.

According to Young, “The non-consensual disclosure of intimate images (NCDII, sometimes referred to as “revenge porn”) is a serious problem with devastating consequences. There are several ways to help combat it, including making it illegal. In addition to NCDII being criminal, for years it has been recognized that a person whose intimate images have been distributed without consent can sue civilly and obtain a damages award.”

Convinced that typical civil suits were ill-suited to addressing NCDII, Hilary Young (UNB) and Emily Laidlaw (University of Calgary), undertook a law reform project with the Uniform Law Conference of Canada. They recognized that what most survivors want is for images to be made inaccessible, but civil justice focuses on monetary awards. The talk examines the problems with the old laws, what the researchers proposed, and how their work has influenced legislation.

Hilary Young is a Professor in the University of New Brunswick’s Faculty of Law. She obtained her Ph.D. in linguistics from Rice University, an LL.B. from the University of Ottawa Faculty of Common Law and an LL.M. from Harvard Law School. She clerked for Justice Louis LeBel at the Supreme Court of Canada and practiced civil litigation at Cox & Palmer in Halifax before beginning her academic career.

Dr. Young’s research and teaching interests include defamation, tort, remedies and health law. She is one of Canada’s leading defamation scholars and has published on other topics including the non-consensual disclosure of intimate images, informed consent to medical treatment, genetic privacy, and a tort of terrorism. Her work has been cited by courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada, and has been funded by granting agencies including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Human Rights and Media Lecture Series

This winter, the Atlantic Human Rights Centre, St. Thomas University’s Department of Human Rights, St. Thomas University’s Department of Journalism and Communications, the NB Media Co-op and RAVEN invite the public to the Human Rights & the Media Lecture Series.  We will hear from scholars of the media and law, media makers and grassroots activists on how our media landscape is changing. We will hear about what they are doing to make this media landscape a more safe, just and equal space.

Upcoming Lectures

Register for the Zoom link here.

February 22 – Laura O’Brien, UN Advocacy Officer for Access Now, on Defending Peaceful Assembly and Association in the Digital Age: Takedowns, Shutdowns, and Surveillance.

March 17 – Fenwick McKelvey, Assistant Professor in Information and Communication Technology Policy in the Department of Communication Studies, on how AI is shaping our lives and communications.

March 31 – Siti Maimunah, a rapporteur for the People’s Tribunal at COP26 in Glasgow and member of the COP26 Coalition, on telling the stories of people of the Global South affected by climate change.

April 12 – Kaitlyn Layden, a Saint John-based disability rights advocate, on engaging the media to advance the rights of people with disabilities.

For more information, contact Tracy Glynn at tglynn@stu.ca.