Tor Project Sued Over a Revenge Porn Business That Used Its Service 311
redletterdave writes: The Tor Project has been sued in the state of Texas over a revenge porn website that used its free encrypted communications service. The plaintiff in the case — Shelby Conklin, a criminal justice major at the University of North Texas — alleges a revenge porn site called Pinkmeth "gained unauthorized access to nude photographs" she owned and posted them to the internet. She also said Tor, which The Economist once called "a dark corner of the web," was involved in an active "civil conspiracy" with Pinkmeth because the revenge porn website used the anonymous communications service to prevent others from tracking its location.
IETF next (Score:5, Insightful)
They set the standards for the TCP/IP protocol, the one used by the packets which conspired with the Tor network to move data around untraceably!
Pretty sure this won't work (Score:4, Insightful)
On the Tor darknet are sites which host and trade enormous amounts of child porn, and one which specializes in leaked nude photos of celebrities, some of which have been successfully removed from the web. If it were legally possible to sue the Tor project over .onion sites, it would have been done a looooong time ago.
Re:Pretty sure this won't work (Score:5, Insightful)
Gun Argument (Score:3, Insightful)
So if they go after Tor for a service someone else provided using Tor, isn't that like going after gun manufacturers for the murders their products help commit? Not trying to start a flame war or anything but this seems kinda close to that notion to me. I'd have a really good laugh if Texas set some legal standard for going after gun manufacturers in the US with this.
Re:Pretty sure this won't work (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes although I'd bet money that Shelby Conklin is going to discover how unpleasant the Streisand Effect can be. She will probably now be known as the revenge porn woman.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Why yes, we should blame the victim here (Score:4, Insightful)
Seriously? Under what logic is it okay to publicly disseminate, often for the express purpose of humiliation, someone else's private photographs whether obtained illegally, surreptitiously, or shared in confidence with you?
She's not being a child. She's taking a stand against someone else's repugnant behavior.
Re:Insert obligatory Streisand Effect joke here... (Score:0, Insightful)
Probably as many times as dweebs like to say "Streisand Effect" at every opportunity.
Re:Author of Excel to be sued next (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Pretty sure this won't work (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, she is doing it wrong. The nobility of her intent does not excuse the harm caused by the ignorant execution thereof.
Re:Moral of the story (Score:5, Insightful)
What is it with people wanting the person who actually did something crapy to not have any consequences? Well, at least when women are the victims and something like sex is involved.
Re:Why yes, we should blame the victim here (Score:5, Insightful)
She's taking a stand against someone else's repugnant behavior.
By suing what appears to be everyone except that someone else?
Re:Pretty sure this won't work (Score:5, Insightful)
Which is a pity. I am seeing a lot of terrible comments lobbed at this woman and people giving a free pass to whoever obtained her images and the site for hosting them.
Nobody's "giving a free pass" to the revenge porn site. We're just not talking about it, because the revenge porn people, in this particular case, aren't the ones making a public ass of themselves. "This woman" is, and thus, shall be the subject of our collective ridicule.
In that, hey, how sad is it that she's making herself look worse than a revenge porn site?
Yeah it was stupid of her to name Tor as a defendant, but that can be explained by her simply not being part of the tech culture and thus not really aware of how things go together. Keep in mind she is only a student.
Yea - a law student. Who apparently doesn't actually understand the law. Again, not helping her own case here, both literally and metaphorically.
But people seem to be focusing on just that, which is pretty much just victim blaming.
No, suing Tor because "people use tor for porn" is victim blaming. This is pure mocking of stupidity and lack of common sense.
It is the same crap people pull on rape victims all the time, finding some way to socially punish them for trying to bring consequences for their attacker's actions.
You know, as a close relative of a victim of violent sexual assault, I take offense to your supposition that what my family member went through is exactly the same as what this woman is doing to herself. Don't bandy about the term "rape" for everything you disagree with, as it desensitizes people from the severity of that particular crime.
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Re:Pretty sure this won't work (Score:4, Insightful)
The point is she's not trying to bring consequence for her attacker's actions, you colossal moron, she's lashing out at tangentially related parties. We're not "giving a free pass" to the revenge porn scum - that guy simply doesn't even enter the current discussion, which is about her suing Tor.
It's like suing Ford Motors because a drunk on a Prius hit you (and when people say "are you dumb?", a white knight jumps in to cry "But why are you giving drunk drivers a free pass?!?!?!")
Re:Pretty sure this won't work (Score:4, Insightful)
You know, as a close relative of a victim of violent sexual assault, I take offense to your supposition that what my family member went through is exactly the same as what this woman is doing to herself. Don't bandy about the term "rape" for everything you disagree with, as it desensitizes people from the severity of that particular crime.
All the internets sir. You win them.
Re: Redneck roadhouse (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm SUING the manufacturers of BOX CUTTERS for the complicit CONSPIRACY they participated in on 9/11/2001!
-- Mayor 9u11iani.
Re:IETF next (Score:0, Insightful)
sorry for the trolling comment but after seeing her ugly ass I wonder if she is suing because people did not vote her ugly chubby body the hottest in America?
Lawmakers need to be beaten, at what point do you start holding idiots accountable for self-pics, then being fuc*** stupid enough to send them via a network? These people deserve what they get! If they dont like it then stop acting like morons. This was the only way for her to get any cock? Are you that desperate to photo your ass pretending your some hot piece? You dont want to strip for the guy and have sex naked? I can remember with my memory (something people forgot they had) the women I screwed around with, and I still get a high hard-on thinking about them without the need of a photo!
And worse yet is you have underage nude "selfie" photos all over the net. You need laws for the people that are doing this, that they need to understand responsibility, and some self respect. I love seeing nude women but only if their doing it with the intent on getting attention and knowing that the web site their posting on is there for that reason.
I cant believe how many people actually supported laws over this?
Re: Redneck roadhouse (Score:5, Insightful)
Southerners do, dumbass.
Actually, we usually say "damn Yankee".