UNIVERSIDAD CENTRAL DE VENEZUELA

Facultad de Humanidades y Educacin

Escuela de Idiomas Modernos
Ingls IV
Prof. Carlos Saavedra
Interview 1

Cristina C. Gmez H.
C.I.: 19.555.500
16/10/14

1st. Criterion: Mastering.

2nd Criterion: Developing.

3rd Criterion: Mastering.

4th Criterion: Developing.

5th Criterion: Emerging.

6th Criterion: Emerging.

7th Criterion: Mastering.

REVENGE PORN
On August 31, 2014, almost 200 private pictures of celebrities, mostly of women and
containing nudity, were posted on the website 4chan.org and spread by other users on websites
and social networks. The images were obtained by hacking the iCloud accounts of celebrities
such as Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton and Kirsten Dunst, and their publication was met with a
varied reaction. Some people claimed that they should not have taken those pictures on the first
place: they are public figures and as such, they should be more careful with what they do. After
all, non-consensual porn is a problem of famous people. Naked pictures of regular people do not
end up online just like that, right?
Now lets imagine for a minute that it is Monday morning, and you go about your routine
as you usually do. You wake up, shower, get ready and head to work. You ran a bit late and as
you walk through the office, you notice the stares and whispers of your co-workers. Come with
me now, says your boss before you reach your work space. He takes you to his office, where he
shows you an e-mail from John, your ex-boyfriend. He has e-mailed everyone you know, friends,
family and co-workers, even your boss boss, explicit pictures you had sent to him while you
were together.
And it gets worse. Your boss clicks on a link in the e-mail that goes to a website where
your naked pictures are now posted for the world to see, along with your personal information:
your home and work addresses, your e-mail and social networks profiles.

Youre in shock. You cant understand how those pictures, the very same he swore he
deleted and that were supposed to be private, are being seen by the whole world. You feel angry,
ashamed and humiliated.
You, just like many others, are now a victim of revenge porn. Jennifer Lawrence, Kate
Upton, Kirsten Dunst, etc. are just the visible faces of a problem that affects thousands of people.
Revenge porn (also known as non-consensual pornography or cyber rape) consists of
sexually explicit videos and/or photos that are shared online without the consent of one of the
parties involved. Revenge porn is usually uploaded by ex-partners looking to embarrass or
punish the pictured individual, although in some cases the perpetrator can be a hacker with no
relation to the victim.
Hacking someones photos is illegal on its own terms, but whether the photos were stolen
or uploaded by an angry ex-boyfriend, the result is the same: once the pictures are online is
incredible difficult to get rid of them, if not right down impossible. Charlotte Laws, a womens
rights activist, considers that revenge porn actually has nothing to do with whether or not nude
photos were taken. Its about harassment, its about theft, and its about consent. Moreover, the
consequences that the victims of revenge porn have to face are devastating.
Mitchell J. Matorin, an attorney who specializes on intellectual property, Internet and
computer law and online defamation, stated in an interview with Vox.com that the problem is
that the photos are going to remain online on the website where they are posted, and then they
are going to spread from that website to other websites. You can prosecute the person who did it
all you want, but it doesnt address the problem of what happens to the victim after the
photographs appear online.
Revenge porn victims not only have to deal with the social and emotional damage that such
a situation inflicts (according to statistics from the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, 47% of revenge
porn victims contemplate suicide), but they also have to face professional consequences, such as
being fired, threats of violence in the workplace and difficulty securing and retaining other jobs.
Additionally, in cases where the victims personal information is displayed along with nude
pictures (the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative reports that those responsible for the publication of
intimate photos will identify a victim's full name 59% of the time and their social network
information 49% of the time), revenge porn can be physically threatening.

Holly Jacobs, founder of EndRevengePorn.org and the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative
(CCRI), is all too familiar with these consequences. She was a victim of revenge porn during
three years and was forced to change jobs, deactivate social media accounts, cancel work
meetings and even change her name, after an angry ex-boyfriend posted intimate photos and
videos of her. During those years, the police and FBI continuously refused to file criminal
charges against her ex on the grounds that there were technically no laws against what he was
doing. Her experience made her set up the webpage EndRevengePorn.org and form the CCRI, a
nonprofit organization that aims to end revenge porn through legislation.
Currently, there are only 12 states in the US that expressly condemn revenge porn: Alaska,
Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, Idaho, Pennsylvania, Utah,
Virginia and Wisconsin. Worldwide, only 5 countries have laws that protect individuals from
revenge porn: Israel, Australia, the Philippines, Germany and France.
While lawmakers worldwide are beginning to consider revenge porn as a serious problem,
nothing will be solved until people understand that revenge porn is an issue with consequences
so devastating for the victims as an actual, real-life rape; a situation made worse by the fact that
the victims have virtually nowhere to turn for help.