Revenge Porn Figure Asks Google for Privacy Help

Irony alert: A guy who ran a website that trafficked in revenge porn and encouraged men to post unauthorized photos of exes is now asking Google to protect his privacy. Craig Brittain, who ran the website IsAnybodyDown.com before the FTC booted him from the business last month, wants Google to remove search results that point to photos of him and links to websites that carried stories about his legal troubles, reports the Verge. Brittain is invoking a copyright law called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, but observers suggest he'd better not hold his breath.

"In this instance, fair use and general First Amendment principles are on Google's and the media's side," writes David Kravets at ArsTechnica. The FTC accused Brittain of running a "takedown" service—charging people hundreds of dollars to have their images removed from the website—and that gives Consumerist an idea: "Perhaps each of the sites on Brittain’s DMCA list should take a lesson from him and offer to remove his images—for an extortionate fee." (Brittain is not the same "revenge porn pioneer" recently sentenced to prison.)