From 2012 to 2014, a Lancaster County man used a phishing scheme to access the digital accounts of hundreds of celebrity victims, from musical artist Rihanna to model Kate Upton to actors Jennifer Lawrence and Dave Franco. In what media outlets across the globe dubbed “Celebgate,” the man distributed their nude photos and videos across the internet.In 2016, he was sentenced to federal prison.More than 120 Pennsylvania residents have had their intimate photos shared nonconsensually in the past decade. Over 10 years — and in a state with a population of about 13 million — that number may seem almost insignificant. These are just the cases brought before K&L Gates’ Cyber Civil Rights Legal Project, which was founded in September 2014 to help victims of so-called revenge porn.For the more than 400 lawyers globally, including 50-some from Pittsburgh, who have put more than 28,000 pro bono hours into cases, working themselves out of a job isn’t just a good outcome — it’s the best outcome. David Bateman, who co-founded the project with former colleague Elisa D’Amico, was uniquely positioned for the task. His practice was tech-oriented, working with companies like Microsoft and Amazon to prevent online scams.“In the old days, you’d get a letter from the Nigerian prince, then it’d be an email and now it’s a text,” Bateman says. “The behavior hasn’t changed; it just moves with the technology.”Bateman doesn’t blame the technological advances or the social media sites where images are commonly shared or even the private sharing of explicit images in the first place.“People are going to do that; people should do that,” Bateman says. “It’s the new world, it’s a healthy thing. The problem is … people who post them without consent for whatever reason — for spite and malice and vindictiveness.”When the project started, “revenge porn” wasn’t something widely understood by the public. The lack of awareness made it hard enough for victims to admit what had happened, let alone find help to address the issue.David Bateman. Photo courtesy of K&L Gates.Beyond that, Bateman says there were very few legal remedies available, and even fewer lawyers who specialized in the intersection of cyber-forensics and law.“Combining the legal services with the expertise really filled that niche — something that was really missing there. And I think that’s why it’s gone on for so long,” Bateman says. “Over that time, the laws have gotten much better. Forty-nine states have passed criminal and/or civil revenge porn laws, and now, there’s a federal statute that allows a victim to file a lawsuit in federal court and would cover the greater of their damages or $150,000.”Pennsylvania has a statute that criminalizes revenge porn, but Amy Groff — a Harrisburg-based lawyer and vice chair of the Cyber Civil Rights project — says it’s criticized for its narrow scope.“The language in the Pennsylvania statute is limited to you have to show intent to annoy, harass or alarm a current or former partner,” Groff says. “We do see things that come outside the scope of that — sometimes people will post images to brag, or someone else would get a hold of the images and repost it.”The inclusion of an element of intent in statutes, Bateman says, obliges lawyers to prove the perpetrator’s state of mind: The gathered evidence must show that the images were posted to annoy or harass.The paradigm that earned revenge porn its name is that a woman breaks up with her partner, so the partner posts her nude photos in retaliation. This situation would fit under Pennsylvania’s statute, but Bateman says there are a million permutations that might not, such as if the ex distributed the photos to other people who subsequently posted them.“But from a victim’s standpoint, who cares why you did it?” Bateman says. “You shouldn’t have done it. I don’t care if it was to brag to your bro-friend. I don’t care if you’re doing it to sell it. It’s all equally bad. And that intent barrier creates a hurdle that I think is artificial.“If you did it by mistake — somehow by mistake you pushed the button — OK, I get that, maybe that’s not your fault. But if you did it intentionally, whatever your motivation was, I think that should count.”The formation of legal precedents isn’t the only aid that has grown to support victims in the past decade. Bateman says that while the number of websites and social media platforms where the images might be distributed has skyrocketed, many of them have made it easier to get material taken down.Still, revenge porn exists. The perpetuating factor, Bateman says, is human behavior.“All the lawsuits in the world and all the arrests in the world — while helpful in spreading the word — aren’t going to stop this type of human behavior,” Bateman says. “It needs to get to a point where people say, ‘Dude, you can’t do that. Just don’t do that.’ It comes culturally.“I think that’s how this has to be addressed. But I don’t have the answer.”Now, in the month of its 10th anniversary, the project is in the midst of a battle against a new technological advancement: AI image generation.Pennsylvania State Capitol Building at twilight. Photo by Ted Van Pelt. This image was originally posted to Flickr by Ted Van Pelt and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.While no federal law exists on the so-called deepfake nudes, more than a dozen states have introduced laws that make the artificially created explicit images and videos illegal, Groff says.“There’s been legislation proposed in Pennsylvania to address deepfake images,” Groff says. “There was a bill introduced that would expand Pennsylvania’s law that would include that type of deepfake image as well.”Pennsylvania’s Senate Bill 1213 would expand legislation to include artificially generated sexual depictions of any individual — not just a current or former partner, as the revenge porn statute states — but still requires proof that the images or videos were distributed “with intent to harass, annoy or alarm,” Groff clarified in an email to NEXTpittsburgh.“As much as I’d like to see a solution where this problem doesn’t exist or we don’t get clients, I think my goal is that we can continue this momentum,” Groff says. “We’ve steadily increased in terms of what we’re doing and how many people we’re reaching. I’d love to see us continue with those efforts — find innovative ways to help people.”Even as the technological landscape evolves, Bateman emphasizes the importance of not assigning blame to the tools people created with the goal of enhancing their lives.“It’d be wonderful to see human behavior change, or maybe even say ‘mature,’ but you can’t blame the technology,” Bateman says. “This is not a technology problem.”The post Ten years into their battle against revenge porn, K&L Gates lawyers brace for deepfakes appeared first on NEXTpittsburgh.