Revenge Porn News Round-Up

Sign o’ the times – as Prince once said – but this is what it’s come to: we can now collate and publish more than one story about horrible pigs doing their best to fuck people’s lives up via the medium of revenge porn. Ain’t life grand?

… and while life may not be so grand at times, it’s nice to see some people get their comeuppance when it’s richly deserved. Like who, I hear you ask… well, how about Casey Meyering of Tulsa, Oklahoma, who was yesterday sentenced to three years in prison for the operation and maintenance of revenge porn site Win By State.

“Meyering humiliated and belittled victims by operating a website that posted their intimate images and personal information, then extorted them for removal,” said state Attorney General Kamala Harris, whose office prosecuted the case. “California will not tolerate the illegal actions of cyberexploitation operators who profit by degrading victims from behind a computer screen.”

If the authorities hadn’t exerted enough of their dominance on this weedy little toad already, visitors to his former website are met with the following message:

Revenge Porn Round-Up

According to SF Gate the investigation began after a hacking theft complaint cleared a trail leading directly to Meyering and his seedy operation. His site prompted uploaders to name and shame their victims, defining them as “wins” and totting up numbers for each state.

As is the trend with revenge porn sites, Meyering extorted his victims for money. In this instance he demanded $250 to be paid into his Google Wallet via his subsidiary site TakeDownHammer. The long arm of the law grabbed him by the neck after paying for a photo to be removed, tracing the money back to Meyering’s account before he sealed his fate by being filmed withdrawing from that account. Have fun in jail, brother!

Meanwhile, in L.A., YouTube star Chrissy Chambers is looking to make history by being the first individual to bring forward a civil claim against somebody else for posting revenge porn. Chrissy is filing a suit against a former partner who she alleges posted a series of pornographic videos of the two of them together with Chrissy being clearly identified. She also alleges that the videos were made without her knowledge, citing intoxication and a loss of memory.

She claims the videos have caused a notable loss in revenue after advertisers pulled deals and her channel views fell after her former fans left her in droves. She told the Guardian “We had these 14-year-old girls that we’ve been trying to inspire writing [to] us and saying: ‘I had so much respect for you and now you’re a porn star. You’re such a slut. How could I respect you?’”

Chrissy may have to surmount some sizeable obstacles if she is to win her case. The Guardian went on to state that civil claims for damages are difficult to bring. Victims of revenge pornography are unable to sue for defamation, as although the images and videos posted of them might be damaging, they depict events that really happened and therefore do not qualify as “false statements”.

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