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Do You Need a Prenup for Your Sex Tape?

By Christopher Coble, Esq. on February 22, 2017 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Judging from leaks to media and porn sites (and subsequent lawsuits), it seems that the only people without sex tapes these days are people without access to a video camera. And far too often, those tapes aren't so much "leaked" as they are nefariously posted to the internet by scorned lovers lashing out after a breakup.

Known colloquially as "revenge porn," the non-consensual posting of intimate recordings can have disastrous consequences. The problem with any sort of privacy agreement between couples is holding both parties to it after a breakup. But a new app, dubbed a "prenup" for sex tapes, could mean an end to revenge porn.

Room and Key

Rumuki, created by 24-year-old software engineer Nathan Kot, appears exceedingly simple, as described by Vocativ:

Let's say a couple wants to make a sex tape. They both download Rumuki and then sync up with each other's accounts. Then, one of them uses the app to film a video with their partner. The video is encrypted and saved on each partner's smartphone. That alone provides a better degree of security than your average horny iPhone wielder is likely to have, but Rumuki goes a step further. The video cannot be watched by either party unless they have permission from their partner. Permission can only be given for a one-time playback, and it expires in a week. Without that permission, the video remains encrypted and cannot be played.

If the couple breaks up, one partner can revoke playback permission, which prevents the tape from being viewed by the ex or anyone else. And because the video is stored locally, it can't be hacked from a third-party's servers or stored there for later use.

Trust Issues

But, like any technology, Rumuki isn't flawless. As the app itself says, when asked how someone could be sure a partner won't abuse their trust: "You can't. However with Rumuki you have the discretion to only grant playbacks when you can keep an eye on them. You also have the option to revoke all playback grants and delete the recording if trust is ever lost."

Life and love aren't perfect. And there may be no perfect protection for our private recordings, but at least some technologies might be better at saving us from ourselves and our exes than others.

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