IN the same week that thousands of nude photos are stolen from Snapchat users, it’s announced that ‘revenge porn’ will soon be outlawed.

First it was the celebs. Then they came for the mere mortals.

Just weeks after hundreds of nude photos of celebrities were leaked on the notorious 4Chan site, nearly 100,000 explicit images were stolen from SnapSaved.com – a third-party app that hosts photos from messaging service Snapchat – and posted online by a Reddit user who claimed he wanted to expose the risk involved when posting private information on a ‘cloud’ system.

In light of the latest leak, the announcement that so-called ‘revenge porn’ will soon be outlawed in the UK couldn’t come sooner.

The new Criminal Justice and Courts Bill, currently going though parliament, will have an amendment meaning that those who post explicit images and videos of others on the internet - including Facebook, Twitter and other social networks – could go to jail for two years if convicted. The amendment also covers the physical distribution and sending of images by text message.

“We want those who fall victim to this type of disgusting behaviour to know that we are on their side,” said Justice Secretary Chris Grayling in a statement.

“Revenge porn can be enormously distressing for its victims,” said Adam Pemberton, assistant chief executive for charity Victim Support (victimsupport.org.uk) of the activity so-called because it’s often perpetrated by a victim’s former partner.

“They may feel powerless to make it stop or embarrassed as they do not know who has seen intimate images they shared with someone they once trusted.”

Despite the recent celeb-focused headlines, revenge porn is nothing new though, so why the change now?

“Currently, victims only have limited legal protection. This makes it difficult for the police to identify which law to use to press charges, especially if it is for a one-off violation of a victims’ privacy,” Pemberton explains.

Similar laws are already in place in Germany, Israel and 12 US states, and existing Communications Acts will continue to be used by police where appropriate.

It’s a depressing fact that given the legal loopholes and anonymity the internet often affords, it’s unlikely that revenge porn – the victims of which are overwhelmingly female – will ever be eradicated completely. But at least the new law is a major step in the right direction.

Famous females will no doubt continue to be targeted by hackers, but for those who seek to harm and humiliate their ex-partners, this amendment - and the prospect of two years in jail - should act as a very strong deterrent.