German court: You must delete naked photos of your ex

The U.S. has been taking on revenge porn state by state — first New Jersey, then California, then Utah and  Wisconsin and Virginia and Arizona made it illegal to publicly post nude or pornographic images for the purpose of harming the subject. Israel also classifies revenge porn as a sex crime. But in Germany, they’re not even bothering with legislation against revenge porn. Instead, they’re cutting off the problem at its root, by ruling that people must delete intimate images of their ex-partners after the couple breaks up.

In a case last week, the Higher Regional Court of Koblenz ruled that if you ask an ex to get rid of compromising material after a breakup, he or she has to comply. Basically, the court decision says that you can withdraw your consent for someone to own nude pictures of you at any time, and your right to do so trumps the creator’s rights of ownership over the material.

Of course, Germany doesn’t have explicit anti-revenge-porn laws, so if you don’t remember to insist that your ex scrub the evidence of your photographic exploits, you may not be protected if your saucy shots end up on the internet. Probably best to stick with Snapchat just in case.