The alleged owner of a “revenge porn” website – which published intimate photographs of people against their wishes and linked them to social networks – has been arrested in the US.
Kevin Bollaert is accused of being behind UGotPosted, a site that prosecutors claim also sought to extort money from the people by charging a fee to have pictures taken down.
“This website published intimate photos of unsuspecting victims and turned their public humiliation and betrayal into a commodity with the potential to devastate lives,” California Attorney General Kamala Harris said in a statement. “Online predators that profit from the extortion of private photos will be investigated and prosecuted for this reprehensible and illegal internet activity.”
The authorities allege that Bollaert also ran changemyreputation.com, a site that offered services to have pictures from UGotPosted removed for a fee of about $300 (£180).
According to court documents, he is said to have made “around $900 per month from advertising on the site and records obtained from his changemyreputation.com PayPal account indicate that he received payments totalling tens of thousands of dollars”.
More than 10,000 images had been posted to the site, arranged by location, police said.
In addition to the photographs, each entry would display a range of contact details – including links to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, places of work and other personal information.
