A California federal district tribunal has awarded a adult female , identified in courtyard documents as Jane Doe , who claimed a man distinguish David K. Elam II posted revenge porn of her on-line $ 6.45 million in damages . consort to CNN Tech , Doe ’s lawyer say it is the second - largest payout ever awared in a revenge smut case not call for a celebrity .
The casing emphasise how difficult and complicated it can be for victims of revenge porn , in which various sociopaths digitally distribute compromise pic often originally obtain consensually of women they believed have wronged them , per CNN . There remain no federal natural law against revenge porn , and though California is one of the states that have already passed their own laws illegalize the practice , federal prosecutors drop a case against Elam in 2014 .
for block off other sites from host the photos , agree to CNN Doe resorted tocopyrighting her boob . That did result in some of the sites take away images of her . But the nature of the internet more or less ensures that the images are still lurking out there , which go a long way to explain the powerful payout .
grant to CNN , the verdict ultimately did include $ 450,000 in copyright infringement awards as well as extended damages :
Doe was awarded $ 450,000 in damages because of right of first publication infringement . She also pick up $ 3 million in compensatory harm for worked up distress , and $ 3 million in punitive damages .
There ’s no mention of whether Elam ’s legal team plans to appeal the ruling .
“ We never bank on the final result of the criminal action , ” K&L Gates collaborator Seth Gold , who pursued the fount under the firm ’s Cyber Civil Rights Legal Project , told CNN . “ … Revenge porno is a very serious violation of someone ’s rights and can result to very serious combat injury that are worthy of being redressed — and in a more general sense , mass can not ignore the judicial process . ”
According to theNew York Times , Union agency begin investigating Elam in 2013 , and while pursue a case in 2016 , had planned to introduce evidence showing he “ harassed and stalked another former girl online ” in 2012 . The federal character relied on charge of “ stalk , exacerbate identity theft and wildcat access to the computer of the woman , ” the Times describe , though it ultimately fell apart because current Union law would require prosecutors to prove Doe was partly creditworthy for the termination by “ creating the sexually explicit images in the first home and either divvy up them with a former better half or storing them on a cellphone . ”
Union public prosecutor in California had antecedently nailed notorious “ professional life ruiner ” and retaliation porn kingpin Hunter Moore for lead a site that posted nude prototype of soul submitted by others and then accuse the dupe huge fees to take them down . But asMic noted in 2014 , Moore function the site in accordance with Union police that confine situation not responsible for drug user - mother content — a supplying that make water sites like Reddit or Twitter potential . California jurisprudence did not entertain redistributors of retaliation porn legally responsible , limiting the legal avenues available to charge him .
Moore was only taken down on Union charges hepaid another individualto hack into another ’s computer to hold blackmail material . He was finally doom to two and a one-half years in prison and three years of supervised release , according to theWashington Post .
[ CNN , New York Times ]
CrimeRevenge pornTechnology
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