MyEx.com was a controversial, free

revenge porn Revenge porn is the distribution of sexually explicit images or videos of individuals without their consent, with the punitive intention to create public humiliation or character assassination out of revenge against the victim. The material ma ...

website focusing on hosting nude photographs of people posted by former lovers along with their real names.

Concept

MyEx.com provided an opportunity for former lovers to upload pornographic photos of their ex-lovers acquired during the course of the relationship. Photos were generally posted with the full names of the person pictured nude and without that person's consent. Additionally, sexual comments about the subjects of the photos were solicited from visitors to the site. The site made its money through what has been described by opponents of the site as a form of

blackmail Blackmail is a criminal act of coercion using a threat. As a criminal offense, blackmail is defined in various ways in common law jurisdictions. In the United States, blackmail is generally defined as a crime of information, involving a thr ...

—requiring subjects wishing to remove their photos pay a fee for doing so. As of January 9th of 2018, MyEx.com was shut down by the FTC.

Controversy

Revenge porn in general is highly controversial and has been the subject of repeated attempts in different jurisdictions to criminalize it. A Missouri woman obtained a restraining order against her abuser, an ex-husband. The man then posted her nude photos on MyEx.com. She lobbied for a change in Missouri laws after she discovered there were no laws against posting sexually explicit nude photos, even with a restraining order in effect. A Seattle man was convicted and sentenced to one year in jail after posting topless and nude photos of his female clients on MyEx.com. He obtained the photos illegally through his work as a computer consultant. His specific crime appeared to be the stealing of the photos—as well as stalking the women—rather than the revenge porn ''per se''. In addition, civil lawsuits have been filed in connection with specific alleged postings on MyEx.com. An ex-wife of former

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

player Jeff Roehl alleged that the former

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

star posted her nude photos on MyEx.com. Job loss has also resulted from postings on MyEx.com. MyEx.com, along with

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

and

Yahoo Yahoo (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web portal that provides the search engine Yahoo Search and related services including My Yahoo, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, y!entertainment, yahoo!life, an ...

, has also been sued for copyright infringement based upon posted photos.

Ownership

MyEx.com was owned b
Shad Applegate
(also known as Shad Cotelli)
Aniello "Neil" Infante
and possibly others. The website operated through various shell companies, which were later discovered to be controlled by the same individuals. Primarily, it operated under the Nevada-based busines
EMP MEDIA INC
, which stands for "

Erotic Massage Erotic massage is the use of massage techniques by one person on another person's erogenous zones for their sexual pleasure. The process may achieve or enhance the recipient's sexual excitation or arousal and sometimes achieve orgasm. The ...

Parlor" This company also ran another now-defunct website
EroticMP.com
Additional ownership ties includ
Websolutions Netherlands BV
in 2013, which also operated the escort website Adult Search
adultsearch.com
, a site still active today. Both MyEx.com and Adult Search were associated wit
International Spirit Limited
which shares trademark ownership with EMP MEDIA INC. International Spirit Limited also operate
tsescorts.com
a site for transgender sex workers. The ownership of MyEx.com remain
complex
Ultimately, no clear owner was identified, as the operators wer
mysteriously released
from their roles and are believed to have moved on to other websites of a similar nature.

Taken Down

MyEx.com was taken down in mid January 2018 after complaints were filed by the US

Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) United States antitrust law, antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. It ...

and the State of

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

References

{{reflist Dutch erotica and pornography websites Internet properties established in 2013