Man arrested in California in revenge porn hacking case

Description

The founder of one of the first highly profitable sites to post nude photos of people against their will, 27-year-old Hunter Moore was arrested on federal charges claiming that he paid a man to break into the e-mail accounts of hundreds of victims and steal sexually explicit images that later showed up on Moore's notorious isanyoneup.com site.

According to an indictment filed in federal court in Los Angeles, Moore paid $200 (£120) or more per week for images that he knew were obtained by illegally accessing the e-mail accounts. To cover his tracks, he used PayPal accounts that weren't linked to his identity and at one point created new e-mail addresses and deleted data tied to past hack attacks.

The success of isanyoneup.com touched off a string of copycat sites that continue to vex the people whose images appear on them. Some of them have offered to remove images in exchange for payments as high as $250. The sites have often shielded themselves from legal actions through a provision in the Communications Decency Act that prevents sites from being held liable for user-posted content.