Original Revenge Porn Creator, Hunter Moore, Takes Plea Deal With Justice Department

"In one month, approximately half of the operators of dedicated revenge porn sites have been sanctioned, convicted, or are likely to be convicted."

onFebruary 20, 2015 at 10:10 AM

Three of the biggest “names” in the revenge porn business have all had the legal system come down on them, concluding in the past few weeks. At the end of January, Craig Brittain, of “Is Anybody Down,” settled with the FTC. A week later, Kevin Bollaert, of “YouGotPosted,” was found guilty of extortion by a jury. And now, just a couple of weeks after that, the guy often credited with creating the first revenge porn site, Hunter Moore, with “Is Anyone Up,” has settled the Justice Department’s case against him.

As with the Craig Brittain settlement, some may find the end result of this settlement less than satisfying — but it appears that Moore will still likely end up in jail like Bollaert. Moore will agree to plead guilty to two counts (out of nine) in his indictment: one for violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) — for supposedly hacking into computers to get naked pictures to post to his site — and a second one for identity fraud in impersonating another. He will also be limited in his use of computers and devices, and will have to share screen names and passwords to his probation officer. In exchange for this, the prosecutors will ask the judge for a “two-level reduction in the applicable Sentencing Guidelines offense level.” The court does not need to go along with this request, but usually will. As the settlement notes, in pleading guilty to these two charges, Moore is facing a maximum sentence of seven years in jail and a potential fine of $500,000 — though the final result will likely be lower. It appears that the minimum in the sentencing guidelines is two years, so it seems likely that he will spend a fair bit of time in jail.

It’s interesting to see all three of these cases resolve (in some manner — since Bollaert is apparently appealing his case), all within a three-week period. As Adam Steinbaugh notes, a fourth key player in early revenge porn, Casey Meyering, is about to go on trial for extortion as well (and the guy Moore supposedly paid to hack into computers for his site, is still facing a trial in a few months). There are, of course, other revenge porn sites out there, but these were the earliest — and biggest. Steinbaugh further notes that:

Sponsored

Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve

The rise of remote work has dramatically reshaped the relationship between Lawyers and Law Firms, see how Scale LLP has taken the steps to get…

From The Team at Scale LLP

In one month, approximately half of the operators of dedicated revenge porn sites have been sanctioned, convicted, or are likely to be convicted. Stunning.

He further notes that the surviving revenge porn sites (he’s known for tracking these things — and tracking down and exposing the operators) have basically all moved to Tor hidden sites and out of the US.

It does seem noteworthy, again, that all of these results came about without dismantling Section 230 of the CDA or requiring special new “anti-revenge porn” laws, like some are calling for. Yet, I imagine it won’t stop the calls for such legislative action.

The full plea agreement is available on the next page…