<p>A California man who posted thousands of sexually explicit photos of men and women on a "revenge porn" website was jailed for 18 years in what was described as the first case of its kind in US criminal history.<br /><br />San Diego man Kevin Bollaert, 28, was convicted in February of running a website that hosted more than 10,000 explicit photographs.<br /><br />California Attorney General Kamala Harris said it marked the first criminal prosecution of a cyber-exploitation website operator in the United States.<br /><br />Bollaert's website -- ugotposted.com -- was launched in December 2012, enabling photographs to be posted without the subject's permission.<br /><br />Bollaert ran a parallel site that then extorted individuals up to USD 350 each to remove photographs from the revenge porn website.</p>.<p>Victims of the scam spoke in court in San Diego yesterday as they described the damage done to their reputations.<br /><br />"My life has gone through a down-spiral," one of Bollaert's victims told Judge David Gill, adding that she had been ostracised by her mother because of the shame she brought on her family.<br />Another victim, Nicole, added: "I have a hard time acknowledging Mr Bollaert as a human being. I can't get away from the devastation."<br /><br />Unlike other revenge porn websites where photos are anonymous, ugotposted.com required the poster to include the subject's full name, location, age and Facebook profile link.<br /><br />Bollaert created a second website, changemyreputation.com, which he used when individuals contacted ugotposted.com asking for their photos to be removed from the site, earning thousands of dollars in the process.<br /><br />Bollaert's parents pleaded for leniency, insisting their son was remorseful. However judge Gill called Bollaert's conduct "outrageous."<br /><br />California attorney general Harris said yesterday's sentence "makes clear there will be severe consequences for those that profit from the exploitation of victims online."<br /><br />"We will continue to be vigilant and investigate and prosecute those who commit these deplorable acts," she said.</p>
<p>A California man who posted thousands of sexually explicit photos of men and women on a "revenge porn" website was jailed for 18 years in what was described as the first case of its kind in US criminal history.<br /><br />San Diego man Kevin Bollaert, 28, was convicted in February of running a website that hosted more than 10,000 explicit photographs.<br /><br />California Attorney General Kamala Harris said it marked the first criminal prosecution of a cyber-exploitation website operator in the United States.<br /><br />Bollaert's website -- ugotposted.com -- was launched in December 2012, enabling photographs to be posted without the subject's permission.<br /><br />Bollaert ran a parallel site that then extorted individuals up to USD 350 each to remove photographs from the revenge porn website.</p>.<p>Victims of the scam spoke in court in San Diego yesterday as they described the damage done to their reputations.<br /><br />"My life has gone through a down-spiral," one of Bollaert's victims told Judge David Gill, adding that she had been ostracised by her mother because of the shame she brought on her family.<br />Another victim, Nicole, added: "I have a hard time acknowledging Mr Bollaert as a human being. I can't get away from the devastation."<br /><br />Unlike other revenge porn websites where photos are anonymous, ugotposted.com required the poster to include the subject's full name, location, age and Facebook profile link.<br /><br />Bollaert created a second website, changemyreputation.com, which he used when individuals contacted ugotposted.com asking for their photos to be removed from the site, earning thousands of dollars in the process.<br /><br />Bollaert's parents pleaded for leniency, insisting their son was remorseful. However judge Gill called Bollaert's conduct "outrageous."<br /><br />California attorney general Harris said yesterday's sentence "makes clear there will be severe consequences for those that profit from the exploitation of victims online."<br /><br />"We will continue to be vigilant and investigate and prosecute those who commit these deplorable acts," she said.</p>