Tor Project Sued Over a Revenge Porn Business That Used Its Service

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Tor Project Sued Over a Revenge Porn Business That Used Its Service

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday July 9, 2014 @06:03AM from the tor-is-a-series-of-eeeeevil-tubes dept.

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.

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Redneck roadhouse by Anonymous Coward · 2014-07-09 06:04 · Score: 3, Funny

Texas has "the Internets" these days? Did they wire up the trailer parks?
1. Re:Redneck roadhouse by SuricouRaven · 2014-07-09 06:50 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  It's also a state where you can be imprisoned for owning a sex toy.
  Texas's economic success masks the widespread archaic views of the population.
2. Re:Redneck roadhouse by Mordok-DestroyerOfWo · 2014-07-09 06:59 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  I lived there for 5 years before migrating back to the West Coast. The larger cities (Austin and Dallas) were perfectly livable. The smaller towns though have definitely done everything they can do to live up to the uber-conservative, racist, and ignorant stereotypes foisted upon them. At the time I was dating a lovely black girl I had met in school, on campus and in the larger cities nobody shot us a second glance. As soon as we got to bumfuck country though, all bets were off...and I'm a goddamn Mexican!
  
  --
  "Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right" - Salvor Hardin
3. Re: Redneck roadhouse by Anon-Admin · 2014-07-09 07:20 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  before we quit running Cat 5 through our mothers basements.
  Look a Yankee
  There are almost no basements in Texas.
4. Re: Redneck roadhouse by SuricouRaven · 2014-07-09 09:07 · Score: 2
  
  Owning more than four, or offering one for sale. Much as with drugs, owning more than a quantity deemed appropriate for personal use is automatically considered intent to distribute.
5. Re: Redneck roadhouse by Jeremiah+Cornelius · 2014-07-09 09:09 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  I'm SUING the manufacturers of BOX CUTTERS for the complicit CONSPIRACY they participated in on 9/11/2001!
  -- Mayor 9u11iani.
  
  --
  "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
  Never been known to fail..."
6. Re: Redneck roadhouse by painandgreed · 2014-07-09 10:23 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Southerners do, dumbass.
  Actually, we usually say "damn Yankee".
IETF next by GameboyRMH · 2014-07-09 06:09 · Score: 4, 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!

--
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
1. Re:IETF next by jfdavis668 · 2014-07-09 06:59 · Score: 2
  
  Civil engineers are sued when they make mistakes designing a road.
2. Re:IETF next by amicusNYCL · 2014-07-09 07:22 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  She's on quite the fishing expedition. Here is another lawsuit filed by her, from 2012, suing Pinkmeth (again), Katz Global Media (for the crime of providing anonymous hosting), and Verisign. Yeah, she sued Verisign. Maybe that suit didn't work out so well, so she thought she would try her hand against Tor. Not exactly the best way to make a name for herself as a criminal justice major. I suspect that pursuing suits like these will serve is much more of a "loss in earning capacity" than a porn picture ever would. She might also be interested that her Facebook profile is open for the world to see. Here she is.
  Maybe she's just trying to clog up the Google search results for her name with information about lawsuits instead of her actual pictures. You have to go to page 4 to find this one (which is not Pinkmeth), page 6 for this one (also not Pinkmeth), and page 8 for this one (again, not Pinkmeth).
  I'm assuming she has no proof that would allow her to sue the person actually responsible for distributing the pictures (you know, other than her). Life lesson learned, I suppose. Try not to clog up the justice system.
  
  --
  "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
3. Re:IETF next by CanHasDIY · 2014-07-09 09:04 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Civil engineers are sued when they make mistakes designing a road.
  Yea, but they don't get sued for the things people use the roads they designed for. Which is what's happening here.
  
  --
  An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
4. Re:IETF next by Obfuscant · 2014-07-09 10:21 · Score: 2
  
  Yea, but they don't get sued for the things people use the roads they designed for. Which is what's happening here.
  Gun and airplane manufacturers do. In a classic case, an idiot modified his Piper Cub aircraft by removing the front seat and installing a camera, ignored the NOTAM that closed the airport he was intending to depart from, ignored the van the airport manager had parked on the closed runway, tried to depart, hit the van and conked his head on the camera he had installed. Estate sued Piper for making a dangerous airplane.
  And, of course, remember something called Napster? They provided directories of potentially copyright infringing material, just like Archie, Gopher, and Veronica had done years before.
Pretty sure this won't work by GameboyRMH · 2014-07-09 06:12 · Score: 3, 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.

--
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
1. Re:Pretty sure this won't work by l0ungeb0y · 2014-07-09 06:17 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  You forget that this case is in Texas and that Porn and the Internet are involved. Quite literally anything can happen here.
2. Re:Pretty sure this won't work by Anonymous Coward · 2014-07-09 06:25 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Quite literally anything can happen here.
  In that case, my money's on Godzilla.
3. Re:Pretty sure this won't work by Anonymous Coward · 2014-07-09 06:25 · 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.
4. Re:Pretty sure this won't work by GameboyRMH · 2014-07-09 06:31 · Score: 2
  
  They might take that as a challenge. North Carolina made global warming illegal after all.
  
  --
  "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
5. Re:Pretty sure this won't work by NotDrWho · 2014-07-09 06:41 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I can't wait for the confusion when the judge orders that Tor be executed.
  
  --
  SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
6. Re:Pretty sure this won't work by l0ungeb0y · 2014-07-09 07:01 · Score: 2
  
  I wonder if they'll issue exhumation orders for Tor Johnson so the can carry out the execution...
7. Re:Pretty sure this won't work by Anonymous Coward · 2014-07-09 07:22 · 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.
8. Re:Pretty sure this won't work by CanHasDIY · 2014-07-09 07:36 · 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.
  
  --
  An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
9. Re:Pretty sure this won't work by Anonymous Coward · 2014-07-09 07:39 · 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?!?!?!")
10. Re:Pretty sure this won't work by Intrepid+imaginaut · 2014-07-09 07:59 · Score: 3, 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.
11. Re:Pretty sure this won't work by CanHasDIY · 2014-07-09 08:55 · Score: 2
  
  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?
  Read around a bit more. There are quite a few posts here that are putting all the blame on her
  I've read plenty to know that even if a margin of the population here are doing that, you're still wrong to assume that's the general tone, as it appears you are doing.
  
  Yea - a law student. Who apparently doesn't actually understand the law. Again, not helping her own case here, both literally and metaphorically.
  No, she does not understand Tor, which is different then not understanding the law. Going after companies who seem to be aiding in crime or advertising services that make criminal activity easier or undetectable is well within the law. This is why you can go after companies that say sell devices for getting free cable.
  She doesn't understand a thing, so she sues it. That indicates a piss-poor understanding of Western legal practices. A good law student would have done a tiny bit of research before going all sue-happy. Hell, a halfway intelligent person in general would do that. Only morons sue what they fail to understand.
  
  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.
  Ah yes, the old 'it is not as bad as rape so it is ok' argument.
  Well, since I never said that, fuck you.
  What I said is that when douchebags compare every-fucking-thing to rape, it desensitizes the public to the concept, which does harm to rape victims by marginalizing their suffering. Just because it happens to a woman doesn't make it rape, and if you disagree, go down to your local battered women shelter and ask them what they think about it. I'd recommend you wear a cup.
  
  So how bad does something have to be before victim blaming is a problem?
  
  You perceiving something one way does not make it so. As I and other have already pointed out, we are not blaming her for becoming a victim. We're blaming her for trying to resolve the situation in what is one of the most dumbass ways possible.
  
  As someone who is also close to multiple victims of violent rape, I take offense at your attitude that anything not as bad does not count since it trivializes all other forms of crimes related to sex. Which also makes it easier to trivialize rape.
  Yea, keep intentionally or ignorantly misinterpreting my words and meaning. That'll show me.
  
  --
  An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
12. Re:Pretty sure this won't work by JeffAtl · 2014-07-09 10:33 · Score: 2
  
  Lawyers cost money. The Tor Foundation will have to spend a lot of money defending this - even if they're successful. That's plenty of harm right there.
  If you want more harm, you could consider the chilling effect that this will have on other foundations or projects.
Author of Excel to be sued next by Anonymous Coward · 2014-07-09 06:12 · Score: 3, Funny

In breaking news, Microsoft will be sued by the state of New York for authoring and distributing the malicious software called Excel. Investors on Wall Street have used this nefarious software to destroy the world economy while raking in billions of dollars for themselves.
Better add DARPA and Jon Postel as codefendants by tlambert · 2014-07-09 06:15 · Score: 2

Better add DARPA and Jon Postel as codefendants. I hear they came up with this thing called TCP/IP, which aids and abets people like Tor putting together anonymous networks in the first place; it's a clear case of collusion...
Bonus Points: I hear DARPA has deep pockets...
Streisand effect by johanw · 2014-07-09 06:18 · Score: 5, Interesting

I'm looking at her pictures right now. Unfortunately Pinkmeth is SLOW right now. Might have something to do with all the fuzz about it. :-)
Gun Argument by Anonymous Coward · 2014-07-09 06:18 · 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.
Moral of the story by phishen · 2014-07-09 06:18 · Score: 2

In the age of the internet, don't take nude pics.
1. Re:Moral of the story by Ukab+the+Great · 2014-07-09 06:25 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Especially when you are majoring in criminal justice, a field known for having the policy that any bit of dirt found on you can and will be used by someone who wants to hurt you with it.
2. Re:Moral of the story by Stan92057 · 2014-07-09 07:05 · Score: 2
  
  No its don't share/give away what you have no right to share/giveaway with others
  
  --
  Jack of all trades,master of none
3. Re:Moral of the story by jythie · 2014-07-09 07:27 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Ah yes, it is not the boyfriend's fault, he has no control over his actions.
  
  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.
Law student trying to make a name for herself by FuzzNugget · 2014-07-09 06:22 · Score: 2

Looking like an idiot is not the way to do it
"Don't be ridiculous." --Balki by TheDarkener · 2014-07-09 06:25 · Score: 2

Was "revenge porn" non-existant before Tor? I don't see how this (or any other similar) case has any merit whatsoever. Sue the one(s) who masterminded the criminal act(s). I mean, I know I'm preaching to the choir here... but it's like suing AT&T for providing phone lines to someone who recorded phone sex conversations with their spouse and released them after they split up. It's like suing Sony for providing the video camera to Paris Hilton. Lame, lame lame. Ignorant, shortsighted, lame.

--
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
1. Re:"Don't be ridiculous." --Balki by neilo_1701D · 2014-07-09 06:59 · Score: 2
  
  It was mostly limited to scratching "For a Good Time Call Jenny 867-5309" on the bathroom stall of every local truck stop/gas station.
  That was you? You bastard; I wasted so many quarters trying get in touch with her as I followed her around the country!
Why yes, we should blame the victim here by MikeRT · 2014-07-09 06:31 · Score: 5, Insightful

Don't want your nudes to end up in public? Don't take nudes that you wouldn't want the public to see. Then you can be a true victim. The whole concept of "revenge porn," insofar as it applies to nudes and porn freely made and disseminated, is ever so much "I want my freedom.... but I don't want my choices to have consequences of which I don't approve."
We have a term for that behavior. It's called behaving like a child.
1. Re:Why yes, we should blame the victim here by ADRA · 2014-07-09 06:38 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  Laws exist in a large part to protect the dumb, naive, incapable, or ignorant individuals in our population. Choose your insult and blame society for being too liberal supportive of any group and you can say the same thing.
  
  --
  Bye!
2. Re:Why yes, we should blame the victim here by Anonymous Coward · 2014-07-09 06:46 · 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.
3. Re:Why yes, we should blame the victim here by Falos · 2014-07-09 06:53 · Score: 2
  
  The law needs to protect the incapables who can't secure information themselves physically (eg safe, vault) or digitally. The law doesn't need to protect (it can't) those who think distributed information, that is, data in the wild can be owned or controlled. Either it's a secret or it's "compromised", like it has been since the beginning of human communication - it's just faster now. We don't need more cases of plebs getting convicted over public-facing data, over servers with no authentication or credentials, over "private" data that shows up in a GOOGLE SEARCH. I didn't RTFA though; "Photographs she owned" is ambiguous.
4. Re:Why yes, we should blame the victim here by tlhIngan · 2014-07-09 07:26 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Don't want your nudes to end up in public? Don't take nudes that you wouldn't want the public to see. Then you can be a true victim. The whole concept of "revenge porn," insofar as it applies to nudes and porn freely made and disseminated, is ever so much "I want my freedom.... but I don't want my choices to have consequences of which I don't approve."
  We have a term for that behavior. It's called behaving like a child.
  Technically true if she posted the photos on Facebook or something.
  Instead, what happens is she and her boyfriend do stuff like sexting and sharing rather private photos that way. They break up, douchebag boyfriend decides he's innocent and posts those private photos online.
  It's why the German courts I believe say if you do that, you're not only responsible for any damages, but also for taking it down (ha, ha) since those photos were not posted with permission.
  Basically, every teenager with a cellphone and a camera is vulnerable to this (I think the numbers were what, 60% of all texts and other messages were of a sexual nature?).
  It really is a modern technology thing - if you took nudie pictures of yourself, you had to get them developed, etc., and you mailed them off. If your ex-boyfriend wanted to embarrass you with them, it would take a lot of work to get them published widely. These days, digital photos make it easy to share with your friends, and ex-friends.
5. Re:Why yes, we should blame the victim here by compro01 · 2014-07-09 07:32 · 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?
  
  --
  upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
Hey Shelby Conklin... by fallen1 · 2014-07-09 06:33 · Score: 4, Interesting

THANKS for letting me know there are nude photos of you on the internet -- and where to find them! YOU are a font of information and those of us who never even knew this site existed are thankful you are too stupid to realize you just made yourself even more of a search topic. And your lawsuit will fail.
Congrats! :)

--
Dream as if you'll live forever.
Live as if you'll die tomorrow.
~Anonymous~
except that it didnt. by nimbius · 2014-07-09 06:38 · Score: 3, Insightful

Tor isnt a service, its a technology and accompanying data protocol. There is no corporate entity or backer that "crontrols" the network or if there were, the federal government would have beaten this attorney to the punch long ago. Its like trying to sue LUKS deveopers for a hard drive that cant be read by the NSA.

--
Good people go to bed earlier.
Re:Bill Gates by tbuddy · 2014-07-09 06:56 · Score: 4, Informative

The Joint Photographic Experts Group probably had a hand in this too.
Re:This one will be quick. by qeveren · 2014-07-09 07:03 · Score: 3, Informative

Pretty sure you need a massive lobbying brigade in order to qualify for Safe Harbor protections. :P

--
Don't just stand there, get that other dog!
Hmmm ... by gstoddart · 2014-07-09 07:11 · Score: 2

Can you sue automakers for car crashes not caused by defect?
Can you sue gun makers for deaths?
Can you sue the financial industry for losses in the market?
Then why the hell is this any different? Hell, sue the fscking NSA for not having told you about it and stopped it.

--
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
1. Re:Hmmm ... by yeshuawatso · 2014-07-09 07:54 · Score: 2
  
  Can you sue automakers for car crashes not caused by defect?
  Yes.
  
  Can you sue gun makers for deaths?
  Yes.
  
  Can you sue the financial industry for losses in the market?
  Again, Yes.
  
  Then why the hell is this any different?
  It's not. Nothing is stopping you from suing anyone for anything, you just need to be prepared to pay for a lot of legal fees as your cases get dismissed left and right. This is America and we can sue anyone we damn well please for any frivolous reason. You just can't always win. The only requirement for a tort is a civil wrongdoing, intentional or unintentional, and you, plaintiff, have to achieve the preponderance of the evidence.
  
  Hell, sue the f[u]cking NSA for not having told you about it and stopped it.
  Give her time, she's working on including them for failing to the act against the National security that is her mediocre body (I assume, I haven't seen the pics).
Originally developed by ... by PPH · 2014-07-09 07:16 · Score: 2

... DARPA. So why not go after the deep pockets?

--
Have gnu, will travel.
She's taking a stand for her own irresponsibility by MikeRT · 2014-07-09 07:36 · Score: 2, 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?
You're missing the point. It's not ok, but it is a highly foreseeable consequence of taking nude photographs, much less disseminating them. You'd have to live under a rock and have a Pollyannaish view of human relations in 2014 to have no idea that this is a common consequence. Most often now, it probably happens because someone believes they are special and they won't fall victim to what so many others in their demographic have suffered. In that sense, it is precisely the sort of behavior one expects of a child because children and adolescents are almost completely incapable of believing "you're not special and it could damn well happen to you too."
Who's She gonna have Served? by redelm · 2014-07-09 07:57 · Score: 2

... as in "You've Been Served!" Anyone can file a lawsuit against anyone over anything. The first problem is finding and getting that person into the Court. For this you need Process Servers to properly serve a Notice of Hearing. Default judgement is only possible with correct service.
TFA didn't mention who she is serving but if she can find anyone, the most they could say is "Yes, I was involved in setting up Tor Long-ago and Far-Away. No possible knowledge or involvement with complaint." And the Judge will excuse them.
Pretty lame of a law-student not-to-know. Most likely a publicity stunt.
Re:Pics? by anagama · 2014-07-09 08:07 · Score: 2

Hmmm. Have you checked for system updates on your humor chip? Show me one cowboy who hollers "bing!"

--
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
TEQUILA! by Thud457 · 2014-07-09 08:55 · Score: 4, Funny

There are almost no basements in Texas.
Except the one in the Alamo.

--
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff