TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Sharing private images to hurt someone -- a tactic known as revenge porn -- gets a lot of eyebrow raises when mentioned, but one Florida State University student is telling lawmakers the crime is real and has devastating consequences.
Subsequent revenge porn charges could turn into felonies. The House and Senate bills each have one more committee to clear before they can be considered for a floor vote.
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FSU senior Carly Hellstrom said the past year can be summed up in one word: hell.
Hellstrom was a victim of revenge porn. She sent a racy picture of herself to a now ex-boyfriend four years ago that he posted online last year.
"I kind of went through my waves of emotion," Hellstrom said. "I was sad and depressed, and I kind of had to get a little angry and figured that I wasn't going to let this ruin my life and I had to turn this around."
She said it's the first thing that came up when you Googled her name, and it had hundreds of thousands of views. It's gone now, but she still wants to see a law on the books protecting people in her situation.
"When I just got out of high school I didn't know the consequences, and I 100 percent will say that it's a mistake and my fault, but I don't think I deserved it, and I don't think anybody does," said Hellstrom. "I don't think that if you do something like that you should be punished for it, and that's where the law needs to come in and protect us."
Hellstrom's story is grabbing the attention of lawmakers, and two bills are now moving through the Legislature.
Rep. Tom Goodson sponsors the House version of a bill that would make revenge porn a crime.
"I believe very much in the First Amendment and freedom of expression," Goodson said. "I do not believe in harassing someone or hurting someone all because you fell out of love."
While Hellstrom said the act needs to be a felony, the two bills moving in the Capitol would make first offenses a misdemeanor.