Throughout our posts, we have rarely touched on cyber-crimes; criminal charges that stem from computer transactions. Cyber crimes encompass identity theft, corporate espionage, child pornography and even terroristic threats. One of the growing issues with regard to cyber crimes involves “revenge porn” which refers to sexually explicit pictures or videos posted to social media for the masses to see by a former love interest to get back at someone for either breaking off the former relationship or for cheating while being a couple.
While people may send pictures in the midst of being angry, they may not consider the legal implications of doing so; especially if they hacked into a computer to obtain those photos. A California man known for running the most popular revenge porn site on the Internet recently pled guilty to federal criminal charges stemming from accusations that he paid someone to illegally obtain sexually explicit photos for his site.
He pled to one count of unauthorized access to a protected computer and one count of aggravated identity theft, according to a recent NBC News.com report. Because of his website, he garnered the title “the most hated man on the Internet.” His sentencing will be in June, and he faces a minimum of two years in prison with a maximum sentence of seven years.
The court will likely order a pre-sentence investigation which will give the judge additional details on how to fashion a sentence, and the court will likely hear arguments and impact statements before sentencing. It remains to be seen what the man’s fate will be, but it exemplifies the need for a skilled criminal defense attorney when charged with these crimes.
