WhatsApp Image Sender Becomes First Convicted Cyber-Flasher

A registered sex offender has become the first person in England and Wales to be convicted of cyber-flashing. The BBC reports: Nicholas Hawkes, 39, of Basildon, Essex, sent unsolicited photos of his erect penis to a 15-year-old girl and a woman on Friday. The woman took screenshots of the image on WhatsApp and reported Hawkes to Essex Police the same day. Hawkes admitted two charges when he appeared before magistrates in Southend earlier. He is the first person to be convicted of the new offense of cyber-flashing, which was brought in under the Online Safety Act and came into effect on January 31.

After pleading guilty to two counts of sending a photograph or film of genitals to cause alarm, distress, or humiliation, he was remanded in custody until March 11, when he will be sentenced at Basildon Crown Court. Hawkes is a registered sex offender until November 2033 after he was convicted and given a community order for sexual activity with a child under 16 and exposure last year at Basildon Crown Court, the CPS said. He will also be sentenced for breaching the order when he is sentenced in March.

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[arglebargle_xiv]

Those are Dik pics, I think you meant Dick Pick [wikipedia.org].

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[rsilvergun]

Oh yeah baby. Multi-user... if you know what I mean.

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[_merlin]

Too bad he died before camera phones and multimedia messaging enabled the dick pic revolution.

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[arglebargle_xiv]

Or, alternatively, good thing he left before he became a top 10 search result.

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[Beerismydad]

I don't have a bone to pick with this guy, but I hope he gets a stiff penalty.

Re:Nudity is, of course, the #1 cause of brain dam

[ArchieBunker]

They have a naked dating show in the UK. What are you blathering on about? I’m sure all the 15 year old girls really want to see pictures of your dick.

Re: Nudity is, of course, the #1 cause of brain da

[topham]

Only if it's severed

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[AmiMoJo]

There was some guy trying to walk the length of Britain naked. Kept getting arrested. His argument was that nudity isn't offensive.

Not sure if he ever finished his journey, but outside of nude beaches and nudist colonies (we have them), exposing yourself to random people is going to get you in trouble in the UK.

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[NotEmmanuelGoldstein]

... parts are always scandalous ...

Omegle was shuttered for enabling the sexual abuse of children. Before that, even in the USA, there was a lack of schoolgirls telling each other to stay away from the "scary penises" on Omegle.

Re:Nudity is, of course, the #1 cause of brain dam

[quonset]

Omegle was shuttered for enabling the sexual abuse of children.

For reference [usatoday.com], just a few of the things men did on the site.

As always, this is why we can't have nice things.

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[serviscope_minor]

Not everywhere is America.

The prosecution was in England and Wales. It's not even illegal to be nude in public. It is illegal to be a dick about it.

Good

[TwistedGreen]

Hope he gets the book thrown at him. What a fucking loser.

It will become worse

[vbdasc]

Wait until AI starts making and sending unsolicited dik piks.

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[flyingfsck]

There are diks on Wikipedia no less. Oh, the horror: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

Reminder: WhatsApp supports plausible deniability

[Anonymous Cward]

Said flasher is an idiot who could have gotten away with it if he kept his mouth shut and said nothing. A screenshot is NOT valid evidence and even reporting abuse to WhatsApp is pointless because the protocol by design makes it impossible to tell false injected messages from real ones. Abuse reporting only exists to check a box and nothing more. The way an HMAC is used stops an attacker from tampering with an ongoing conversation without providing the unwanted property of non-repudiation for legitimate participants. It is a beautiful design.

If you use disappearing messages, one-view photos and do not back up your WhatsApp data, then your messaging will be private enough that the UK police canâ(TM)t bust you for silly things like this. Oh and if youâ(TM)re on the receiving end of a dick pic, block the idiot and ensure you are configured to only allow known contacts to send you messages. Problem sorted.

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[coofercat]

> Oh and if youâ(TM)re on the receiving end of a dick pic

Yes, your advice is sound, but as a nation, we'd rather you weren't ever handed an unsolicited dick pic, even if you don't lock your entire life down. As such, he's getting busted for it - and others will to. Not problem solved, but problem actually tackled, rather than worked around (which for our current government/law makers is something of a new 'personal best').

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[TwistedGreen]

That's what I do when I'm out in public. Some guy opens his trenchcoat to wave his hairy dongle in your face... just don't look!