A woman in Florida has filed the first ever civil lawsuit against an ex-boyfriend that concerns the distribution of private photographs to revenge porn websites around the Internet.
The lawsuit, filed by 30-year-old Holly Jacobs, charges her ex-boyfriend Ryan Seay with invasion of privacy, public disclosure of private facts, and the intentional infliction of emotional distresses. According to Betabeat, who spoke with Jacobs for an extensive profile, the suit alleges that Seay “published pornographic images and a video of the plaintiff as well as the plaintiff’s name, occupation, details about her schedule and other personal and private facts about the plaintiff on various websites.”
An arraignment is currently set for June 3. Seay, who’s being charged by the Florida state attorney’s office with one count stalking, two counts harassment by use of personal identification information, and one count unlawful publication, faces a maximum penalty of four years in jail should he be convicted.
Jacobs has become an outspoken advocate against revenge porn websites since she first found private photos of herself on a series of sites across the Internet. Recently, she opened the website End Revenge Porn, a website dedicated to collecting signatures in hopes that lawmakers will see it fit to make such sites—think IsAnybodyUp, IsAnybodyDown, HunterMoore.tv, and AmIHotOrNotNude—federally illegal.
“I’m coming out because I’m tired of hiding,” she told Betabeat. “I’m tired of not knowing which name to give to who in my life. I want to live an honest life. I hope that I’ll set an example and show this is how you overcome this: by coming forward. You’re not exposing yourself—you’re already exposed on the Internet. Instead, you’re exposing what is happening to you. Everybody’s going to see me naked, and everybody’s going to see me do things I never wanted anybody to see except the person I was with. But if it’s in the name of the cause and to change the laws about this, then I’m happy to do it. We’re all naked underneath our clothes.”
You can read Betabeat’s profile of Jacobs, as well as take a peak at the lawsuit, here.
Photo via End Revenge Porn