'Revenge Porn’ Website Owner Arrested, Likely to Spend 22 Years in Jail if Proved Guilty
Kevin Christopher Bollaert, responsible for posting over 10,000 explicitly sexual images on a dedicated 'revenge porn' Web site, was arrested. In addition to posting pornographic content on the Web site, the San Diego man used another Web site to extort the victims of the 'revenge porn' he managed to collect. He apparently charged $350 from each of them so that the illicit content might be removed from the Web site, Fox News reports.
Attorney General Kamala D. Harris has issued a news release on Tuesday, Dec 10, stating that Mr Bollaert was charged with 31 felony counts which include extortion, identity theft and conspiracy. It has been mentioned in the news release that Mr Bollaert posted intimate images on the dedicated 'revenge porn' Web site www.ugotposted.com. The unsuspecting victims faced betrayal and public humiliation for such an act. Incidentally, Mr Bollaert used them as commodities which could potentially devastate their lives.
'Revenge Porn' is pornographic or sexually explicit videos/images which are distributed on the net without the permission of the person who are featured in the content. The online distribution is apparently done to humiliate the person. More often than not, these videos or images are leaked from intimate sources. Ex-partners who had a bitter break-up tend to sell intimate content to specific Web sites which have a dedicated fan following for watching such explicit videos/images. At times, hackers too manage to get the content from others' mobile phones or personal computers.
Mr Bollaert's Web site is one such place where anonymous users can upload private photographs. Unlike most of such revenge porn sites, it is mandatory that the explicit photograph includes the full name of the subject, also her location, age as well as the links to her Facebook profile.
Victims of Mr Bollaert's efforts complain that their lives were devastated after their nude photographs appeared online. The added that the photographs made it possible for people to harass the victims by calling them on their personal numbers. Some allege that their personal email was hacked and the explicit photos were sent to relatives.
Mr Bollaert used another Web site called www.changemyreputation.com to contact victims with an offer to remove the content from the other Web site. He demanded a price for the removal of the content. Interestingly, he never told them that he was the same person who was responsible for posting them.
If Mr Bollaert's charges are proved, he may face imprisonment for up to 22 years.