Another Revenge Porn Extortion Site Operator Going To Jail

from the random-sentencing dept

Thu, Jun 11th 2015 8:20pm — Mike Masnick

Sentencing revenge porn extortionists seems to be all over the place. Craig Brittain, who basically originated the extortionate process of not just running a revenge porn website, but combining it with a (pretending to be) separate "pay us and we'll get your naked photos taken down" service, had his wrists duly slapped by the FTC earlier this year. Shortly after that, Kevin Bollaert, who more or less copied Brittain's plan, got sentenced to 18 years in jail (which he's currently in the process of appealing). Hunter Moore, who is often credited with being the first one to set up a big revenge porn site (without the corresponding extortionate takedowns, but apparently with hiring people to hack into computers to get copies of naked photos to post), took a plea deal with somewhere between two and seven years in jail.

And, now, Casey Meyering, who also copied Brittain's plan -- almost exactly -- and who also took a plea deal a few weeks ago, has been sentenced to three years in jail (which he can't appeal, due to the plea deal). Adam Steinbaugh, who spends his spare time hunting down revenge porn operators, provides a bit of background:

In June of 2013, I documented how Meyering had ripped off an extortion scheme pioneered by another revenge porn site operator, Craig Brittain. Meyering created Takedownhammer.info, copying Brittain’s Takedownhammer.com (word for word), and solicited payments to this “independent” service using a Google Wallet account clearly linked to Meyering’s drum-lessons business.

When Meyering was arrested in February of 2014, he was found in a Tulsa hotel room, drunk. He subsequently told the court he was homeless, bankrupt, and had nobody to ask for financial assistance to hire an attorney.

It seems like the sentencing is all over the place with these guys. However, at the very least, it seems to have scared most revenge porn sites away from the US.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: casey meyering, craig brittain, jail, kevin bollaert, punishment, revenge porn

8 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Pixelation, 11 Jun 2015 @ 10:14pm

"Another Revenge Porn Extortion Site Operator Going To Jail"

Can't wait to watch the movie...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Roger Strong (profile), 11 Jun 2015 @ 11:52pm

Time To Call In A Professional
Given the nature of their data collection programs, perhaps Brittain, Bollaert, Meyering and Moore should ask for a legal opinion from John Yoo.

You know, former Assistant U.S. Attorney General and current Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. Writer of the Torture Memos, legal opinions that allowed the US torture program.

Writing legal opinions to justify the most vile forms of data collection is his specialty. Heck, revenge porn sites would be an ethical step up! He can guarantee results; no-one has been prosecuted for the torture.

Failing that, perhaps the four will be welcome at Berkeley.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
orbitalinsertion (profile), 12 Jun 2015 @ 7:03am

In June of 2013, I documented how Meyering had ripped off an extortion scheme pioneered by another revenge porn site operator,

Infringement! Let's see some damn copyright enforcement. (Although Mike Masnick would probably have a cow. #he hate enforcement)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 Jun 2015 @ 9:37am

Re:
Hey there is a novel idea in there. Someone should quickly rush to the USPTO and apply for a Business Method Patent on running a revenge porn site then offer to sell it to a patent troll then use the money to buy stock in a popcorn company.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 Jun 2015 @ 9:42am

Re: Re:
Imagine what would have happened if Prenda Law had decided to target revenge porn site operators instead of innocent people.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Pragmatic, 15 Jun 2015 @ 2:26am

Re:
Here's the script:

[RPO gazes at naked photos on a PC screen. Opens an email client to send an email to a woman, "advising" her that she can get the ones of herself taken down for a small consideration.]

RPO: Muahahahahahahaa!

[Door kicked open by police pointing guns in all directions. Cops flood the room, shouting and swearing at terrified RPO]

RPO: Uh oh!

The End.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Pragmatic, 15 Jun 2015 @ 2:28am

Re: Re: Re:
I presume they didn't out of professional courtesy.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 17 Jun 2015 @ 9:53am

Re: Time To Call In A Professional
John Yoo is actually a really cool guy if you don't base your opinions on sheep mentality and what you hear in the media.
[ link to this | view in thread ]