Abstract

Research paper titled From Crime Scene to Content: The Intersection of Male Rape, Cyber Offences, and Intellectual Property Abuse explores how sexual violence, cyber offences, and intellectual property abuses intersect in the digital environment today. Male rape is still one of the most stigmatized and underreported offences based on stigma, cultural silence, and lack of legal recognition in most juridical systems. The research investigates how the growing number of cyber offenses, including the recording and circulation of exploitative content, further aggravates the trauma experienced by the survivor. Cyberspace is a place where intimate violations are turned into lasting public records, and issues regarding evidence, privacy, and jurisdiction are raised in cyber law. A further level of complication occurs when intellectual property law intersects with exploitative content. Copyright liability and ownership problems arise with the dissemination of abusive material online because the conventional IP paradigms weren’tequipped to deal with content based on criminal activity. This essay identifies the inadequacy of the fractured legal response under which criminal law, cyber law, and IP law exist in a kind of siloed existence without needed coordination. The study seeks to present a comprehensive perspective of this intersection through an examination of legal definitions, examination of current case laws, and determination of regulatory gaps. It also proposes integrated reforms balancing survivor protection, offender accountability, and control over digital platforms. Finally, the present study is an addition to the current debate on legal reform by proposing a harmonization approach to respond to the issues at the intersection of sexual violence, cyber crimes, and abuse of intellectual property.

Keywords: Male rape, digital exploitation, IPabuse, survivor protection

INTRODUCTION

The twenty-first century has seen a revolutionary transformation in the manner in which crimes are being committed, documented, shared, and viewed[1]. The ubiquitous availability of smartphones, instant connectivity to the internet, and social media platforms have made committals of violent crimes that were so far confined to the immediate vicinity of the victim and the perpetrator beyond geographical jurisdiction to create lasting impressions in the virtual environment[2]. The revolution has created complex interfaces between traditional criminal law, cyber law, and intellectual property (IP) law that are often left inadequately covered byexisting legal frameworks[3].

Among the many intersections that there are where law and technology meet, one that has received scant attention is a particularly pressing and neglected one is the one concerning the chain of action after the commission of a sexual offense, male rape, and its expansion to the cyber domain by the unauthorized recording, dissemination, and financial gain from such activity[4]. Male rape is recognized to varying degrees in law across different jurisdictions, is highly stigmatized and underreported, and its connection with cybercrimes and intellectual property crime is thus an essential but under researched site of legal inquiry[5].

The phrase “From Crime Scene to Content” captures the horrific process through which a criminal offense is translated into online content that is then copied, commodified, or manipulated as “content” for online consumers[6]. The problem ranges beyond instances of pornography or revenge porn to embrace a broader range of cybercrimes like unauthorized sharing of photographs, deepfake manipulation, and copyright violation, all of which also victimize victims in para-commercial or commercial environments[7]. The intersection of the elements makes the borders of differentiation between criminal responsibility, onlinerights,and content control indistinct, hence posing unprecedented challenges to global legal systems.

[1] Daniel J. Solove, The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet 23–26 (2007).

[2] Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism 75–80 (2019).

[3] Lawrence Lessig, Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace 5–6 (1999).

[4]Janie A. Chuang ,EXPLOITATION CREEP AND THE UNMAKING OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING LAW,the American Journal of international law , vol.108 ,No.4 (2014).

[5] UN Office on Drugs & Crime, Handbook on Justice in Matters Involving Child Victims and Witnesses of Crime 19–20 (2009).

[6] Danielle Citron, Hate Crimes in Cyberspace 110–12 (2014).

[7]Evelyn Douek, Content Moderation as Administration, 136 Harv. L. Rev. 831,(2023)