A man in San Diego who ran a so-called "revenge porn" site that charged hundreds of dollars to remove anonymously posted nude photos has been sentenced to 18 years in prison after his conviction on 21 counts of identity theft and six counts of extortion.
Kevin Bollaert, 28, ran the sites UGotPosted.com and ChangeMyReputation.com.
NPR's John Burnett reports: "The way it worked: angry lovers could post intimate photos of people as well as gossip about them without their consent on ... UGotPosted.com. It quickly became popular: In a 10-month period more than 10,000 racy photos were posted, mostly of women. When the subjects objected, they were directed to ... ChangeMyReputation.com and had to pay $250 to $300 to have them taken down."
"Today's sentence makes clear there will be severe consequences for those that profit from the exploitation of victims online," California Attorney General Kamala Harris said.
The Associated Press says:
"Victims included teachers, wives and professionals. The compromising photos cost people jobs, damaged relationships and led to one attempted suicide.
"Bollaert earned about $900 a month in website ad revenue and collected about $30,000 from victims."
Harris warned that "Sitting behind a computer committing what is essentially a cowardly and criminal act will not shield predators from the law or jail. We will continue to be vigilant and investigate and prosecute those who commit these deplorable acts."
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