From the California AG’s Press Release:
SAN FRANCISCO — Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced the arrest of the alleged owner and operator of a revenge porn website who facilitated the posting of more than 10,000 sexually explicit photos and extorted victims for as much as $350 each to remove the illicit content.
“This website published intimate photos of unsuspecting victims and turned their public humiliation and betrayal into a commodity with the potential to devastate lives,” Attorney General Harris said. “Online predators that profit from the extortion of private photos will be investigated and prosecuted for this reprehensible and illegal internet activity.”
Kevin Christopher Bollaert, 27, of San Diego, was arrested today in San Diego by California Department of Justice agents and is being held in San Diego County jail on $50,000 bail. According to documents filed in San Diego County Superior Court, Bollaert has been charged with 31 felony counts of conspiracy, identity theft and extortion and is facing possible jail time and fines.
Court documents allege that, in December 2012, Bollaert created the website ugotposted.com, which allows the anonymous, public posting of private photographs containing nude and explicit images of individuals without their permission. Commonly knows as revenge porn, the photos are typically obtained consensually by the poster during a prior relationship or are stolen or hacked. Unlike many other revenge porn websites where the subject of the photos is anonymous, ugotposted.com required that the poster include the subject’s full name, location, age and facebook profile link.
California Penal Code sections 530.5 and 653m (b) make it illegal to willfully obtain someone’s personal identifying information, including name, age and address, for any unlawful purpose, including with the intent to annoy or harass.
This charge was brought primarily under identify theft and extortion laws. The way this complaint is framed avoids the consideration of the content of the underlying recordings for purposes of a criminal conviction. In fact, the complaint focuses on the fact that the website operator posted personal identifying information (the offending material), along with the photographs (see “Overt Act 3”).
Between December 2, 2012 and September 17,2013, Kevin BOLLAERT posted the 14 personal identifying information of over ten thousand individuals in conjunction with private 15 images of those individuals without their permission.
There is nothing in the complaint that references a violation of California’s new revenge porn statute, which is codified as California Penal Code 647(j)(4).
(4) (A) Any person who photographs or records by any means the image of the intimate body part or parts of another identifiable person, under circumstances where the parties agree or understand that the image shall remain private, and the person subsequently distributes the image taken, with the intent to cause serious emotional distress, and the depicted person suffers serious emotional distress.
(B) As used in this paragraph, intimate body part means any portion of the genitals, and in the case of a female, also includes any portion of the breasts below the top of the areola, that is either uncovered or visible through less than fully opaque clothing.
(C) Nothing in this subdivision precludes punishment under any section of law providing for greater punishment.
The California statute only covers the person who actually made the recording, and not someone who distributed it elsewhere.
I will have more on this topic soon. Stay tuned.
Update: Related thoughts from Law School Reports:
Attention scumbags… …the law is catching up with you. Once CDA 230 is history, maybe cyberspace will even be part of civilization?