Part 10: Communications offences Offence to be inserted into Sexual Offences Act 2003 Section 66C: Sharing or threatening to share intimate photograph or film: exemptions
The exemption in subsection(1) applies where the photograph or film that was shared has been taken in a place to which the public, or a section of the public, had access. This exemption would only apply where the photograph was taken in public; and B was either voluntarily in the intimate state or the defendant reasonably believed they were; and the B did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy against a photograph or film being taken.
	Subsection (2) provides that whether or not B has a reasonable expectation of privacy from a photograph or film being taken in public is judged by the circumstances that (A) reasonably believes to have existed at the time it was taken. The court would need to determine whether in the circumstances that the defendant reasonably believes them to be, B had a reasonable expectation of privacy from a photograph or film being taken. If the court decides that B would have had a reasonable expectation of privacy from a photograph or film being taken in those circumstances, the exemption is not made out. If the court finds that B would not have had a reasonable expectation of privacy the exemption would apply and the defendant would not have committed the offence.
	The exemption in subsection (3) provides that where a person shares an intimate photograph or film, and that photograph or film had been previously shared in public, or the person reasonably believed that it had been, and that B had consented to the previous sharing, or the person sharing the photograph had a reasonable belief that they had consented, this is not an offence.
	The exemption in subsection (4) provides that where a person shares an intimate photograph or film of a child under 16 who lacks capacity to consent to the sharing (or the person sharing reasonably believes they lack capacity to consent), and it is shared for the purpose of the child’s care or treatment by a healthcare professional, this is not an offence.
	The exemption at subsection (5) provides that where a person shares an intimate photograph or film of a child which is of a kind normally shared between family and friends, this is not an offence. It would not be necessary for the intimate photograph or film to have only been shared with family and friends, just that it was that kind of image.
	By virtue of the exemption at subsection (6) it is not an offence to threaten to share an intimate photograph or film unless the act of sharing the photograph or film in the circumstances conveyed by the threat would be an offence under (66B)(1), (2) or (3).