'Revenge Porn' Law Passed in Britain

A new law banning "revenge porn" -- sexually explicit images shared online by a former partner without their ex's consent -- was passed in England and Wales Thursday.

The law covers images shared on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter as well as those spread by SMS, email and online.

"It's a start," Laura Higgins from the UK Safer Internet Center, which manages a revenge porn helpline, told Agence France-Presse.

"It's a very big problem. For every case that we deal with, we find dozens of other people's profiles who probably don't know that they're online yet," she said.

"I think in the last 18 months there has been a real increase in this sort of behavior."

The justice ministry said the new law applies to "photographs or films which show people engaged in sexual activity or depicted in a sexual way or with their genitals exposed".

People convicted of sharing "revenge porn" face up to two years in prison.

The devolved governments in Scotland and Northern Ireland, which have responsibility for justice matters, are also looking at introducing similar laws.