Technology

‘Revenge-porn’ king indicted by feds

The Justice Department filed charges against the operator of a “revenge-porn” website in Los Angeles on Thursday.

Hunter Moore, who has been called “the most hated man on the Internet” for running his site, was charged with helping to hack into peoples’ computers, steal photos of them in the nude and then post them on the Internet.

Moore’s site, isanyoneup.com, distributed the photos online, allegedly without consent.

The government said that Moore paid another man, Charles Evens, to break into peoples’ email accounts and steal their pictures for the website. Moore sent requests for “7 girls and 3 dudes” and asked Evens to “hack all week for me,” Justice Department officials claimed.

Evens was also charged in Thursday’s filing.

According to the charges, Moore and Evens “knowingly combined, conspired and agreed to … access a protected computer without authorization to obtain information for private financial gain,” in violation of the law.

The practice continued until May 2012, according to the indictment.

Sites like isanyoneup.com offer “revenge-porn” that allow spurned ex-lovers to submit naked pictures of their former partners.

Moore has defended his actions by saying that he was protected under a provision of the Communications Decency Act that protects website owners for content that others post on their sites.

The measure has been heavily guarded by Internet companies like Yelp, which depend on user-submitted reviews to attract readers.

Moore’s site would violate that section if he actively sought illegal content, as the filing alleges.