Some justice is finally being served to Hunter “The Most Hated Man on the Internet” Moore. Seriously, that was a nickname he took pride in. The infamous revenge pornographer plead guilty to charges of identity theft and hacking in relation to his website, Is Anyone Up? He’s facing up to seven years in prison, hefty fines, and up to three years probation after he’s released. His social media accounts and files must also be accessible to authorities.
Not only was he making profit by exploiting nude photos of women given to him by angry exes—no, this human pile of garbage took it even further by having his accomplice Charles Evens hack and steal women’s nude photos. Oh, and to really solidify his spot as Scummiest Scumbag on Earth, he also posted identifying information along with the photos so a simple Google search would produce the photos. Basically, to have your photos in the hands of Hunter Moore was to have your life essentially ruined. We’re all familiar with the permanence of anything posted on the Internet. Once it’s up, it’s pretty much impossible to get rid of it completely.
Fortunately, we’re living in a day and age that is, for the most part, intolerant of scumbags who make a living off of sexual exploitation. Unfortunately, it’s also a day and age that makes this kind of exploitation incredibly easy. Hunter Moore isn’t the only trash heap using sexual humiliation for profit. There are a lot of really crummy, disgusting people out there who don’t feel bad about doing things like this.
Sadly, a lot of people will lessen the severity of crimes like these by blaming the victims for taking the photos in the first place. Victim blaming and slut shaming do nothing to stop these things from happening. If anything, they promote this behavior because the people (who aren’t just men by the way) that use these photos to exploit others face very little repercussions for their actions.
The key here is balance on both sides. Don’t post people’s pictures without permission and be careful of who you send those photos to. It would be great if we could just trust everyone enough to not ruin our lives by posting inappropriate photos online, but unfortunately that’s not how things work. Just like with any other type of content, be aware of what you post and what you send and to whom. Stay safe, collegiettes!