Administrator of Revenge Porn Site Sentenced to 18 Years

Kevin Bollaert, 28, who operated a so-called “revenge porn” online service and then extorted cash from victims to remove nude images and personal data, was recently sentenced to 18 years in state prison. The individual from San Diego was convicted of 21 counts of identity theft plus 6 counts of extortion for operating a number of online services that capitalized on the worldwide web as a place for public shaming.

Kevin Bollaert created a website called ugotposted.com, where jilted lovers and hackers could publish nude photos and personal data of people, including names, addresses and social media details, without their consent, while remaining anonymous. Over 10,000 images, mainly of women, were uploaded to the website between December 2012 and September 2013. When victims of such behavior sought to have the embarrassing images taken down, they were directed to other website operated by Bollaert – changemyreputation.com – where they were charged up to $350 to remove the images.

The court sentenced Kevin Bollaert to as long as 18 years because the compromising images cost many people jobs, damaged relationships and even attempted suicide. In the meantime, the individual earned about $900 per month in advertising revenue from his site and, of course, collected quite much from the victims (around $30,000).

In attempt to defend his client, Bollaert’s lawyer was trying to insist at the court that although his business was indeed gross and offensive, Kevin Bollaert didn’t break any law, because he was not posting any pictures himself – instead, he allowed other Internet users to upload the explicit content.