Oregon’s revenge porn law went into effect in June of 2015. Perhaps surprisingly, it’s taken over a year for someone to actually get sent to jail via the new law.
KOIN 6 reports that on Thursday, a man named Benjamin J. Barber was convicted of five counts of unlawful dissemination of an intimate image and sentenced to six months of jail time. Barber was arrested in July for posting pornographic videos of himself and his ex on various websites, without her permission. While interviewing Sgt. Bob Ray outside the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, KOIN 6 reporter Emily Sinovic was approached by Barber himself:
Barber is happy to expound on camera that he had the “copyright” to the pornographic materials and that his ex initially blackmailed him with the tapes, before he widely released them. He says he believes the judge disliked him and withheld relevant evidence in his defense. Sinovic asks Barber if he realizes people will be dismissive of his excuses and think “this guy just seems creepy,” to which he responds, “I understand people are going to think I look creepy. I have this blown out eye.”
The reporter then clarifies that she didn’t mean his actual appearance and he continues, “Have you never texted someone, have you ever posted any images of yourself to someone? Does that make you creepy? Is it creepy to post commercial pornography? Is every porn star a creep?”
There’s a long silence before Sinovic asks if there’s anything he’d like to add about the Oregon’s revenge porn law and Barber answers, “I think it’s literally unconstitutional.”
Sinovic says Barber told her that he plans to sue the state of Oregon for violating his First Amendment rights.