January 23, 2014

FBI Arrests “The Most Hated Man on the Internet,” Revenge-Porn King Hunter Moore

Hunter Moore, "The Most Hated Man on the Internet" <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_1FIBA_kpk">zone3</a>/YouTube

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Thursday morning, the FBI arrested 27-year-old Hunter Moore, the founder of “Is Anyone Up,” a now defunct website dedicated to publishing revenge porn—softcore or hardcore amateur pornography supposedly submitted by scorned, anonymous exes and usually accompanied by the purported names and addresses of the people (usually women) depicted. Moore—dubbed “The Most Hated Man on the Internet” by Rolling Stone—was taken into custody along with Charles Evens, 25, for allegedly conspiring to hack into the email accounts of hundreds of victims in order to steal nude photos and post them online. Moore and Evens were indicted in federal court in California and charged with one count of conspiracy, seven counts of unauthorized access to a protected computer, and seven counts of aggravated identity theft.

According to the Village Voice, Moore’s website posted over two dozen nude photos a day, almost always of women, along with screenshots of the victims’ names, social media accounts, and location, which he added in order to maximize Google search traffic. Last year, he was fined $250,000 for defamation after accusing an anti-bullying activist of possessing child porn. The local US attorney’s office released a statement on the arrest. Here’s an excerpt: 

To obtain more photos to populate the site, Moore allegedly instructed Evens to gain unauthorized access to – in other words, to hack into – victims’ e-mail accounts. Moore sent payments to Evens in exchange for nude photos obtained unlawfully from the victims’ accounts. Moore then posted the illegally obtained photos on his website, without the victims’ consent. The indictment alleges that Evens hacked into email accounts belonging to hundreds of victims.

Read the full indictment here:

 

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