Hunter Moore, the man behind the site IsAnyoneUp.com, pleaded guilty on Wednesday, Feb. 18, before a federal court in Los Angeles. As the creator of an online site that displayed nude images of people, Moore was charged with hacking and identity theft as the images were stolen from email accounts. He faces a minimum prison sentence of two years.
Moore was nicknamed "the most hated man on the Internet" because of his website that showed explicit photos, some of which were submitted by jilted lovers and spouses. The site, which is also referred to as a "revenge porn" site, had immediately sparked controversy because of the published photos gathered from compromised accounts.
Accomplices helped Moore in accessing various Yahoo and Gmail accounts. One such accomplice was Charles Evens, otherwise known as Gary, who got paid by Moore either through bank transfer or PayPal. His job was to hack email accounts. It was said that Moore offered Gary a weekly salary of $200 for gathering photos for the site.
Some of the photos included a woman in a wheelchair, the daughter of a major Republican donor and a finalist from American Idol.
Moore is just one of the revenge porn entrepreneurs that have caught the attention of lawmakers from a number of states. Photos on the site were of men and women that were submitted by former lovers. There were also nude photos gathered illegally by hacking into email accounts with the help of a paid accomplice.
Evens faces conspiracy and computer hacking charges. With "not guilty" as his plea, Evens is scheduled to go on trial next month.
Earlier this month, another revenge porn entrepreneur known as Kevin Bollaert of San Diego was convicted with charges of identity theft and extortion. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Part of Moore's guilty plea included the forfeiture of any seized digital media by the local authorities. Moreover, the government has the right to delete any data from the devices.
In 2013, the first law targeting revenge porn was signed by California Gov. Jerry Brown. The following year, a revenge porn bill signed by Arizona lawmakers had to be placed on hold by a federal court when a rights group argued that the bill's scope was too broad.
