No One-Sided Pseudonymity in Case Against Political Candidate Alleging Revenge Porn
From Doe v. Maloit, decided today by Magistrate Judge Kathryn Starnella (D. Colo.):
Plaintiff and Defendant were married from 2006 to 2018. In April or May 2022, Plaintiff “began receiving phone calls and emails at her place of employment—a school—from strangers, who informed Plaintiff that there were compromising photographs of her online. Some had been taken by Defendant, others by Plaintiff of herself, all while they had been married. They were taken for her and Defendant’s private use, and she never consented to their broader disclosure.
At some point between May and August 2022, Defendant admitted that he had previously posted the photographs to a website called RedClouds, where users can share pornographic content. The photographs then spread to other websites, some of which posted them alongside Plaintiff’s name, employment information, and work contact information. Plaintiff had to bring the matter to her employer’s attention and hired a lawyer to attempt to get the photographs removed from various websites, but only some of the websites have complied. Plaintiff alleges that Defendant disclosed her photographs online. She lodges three claims against Defendant: (1) disclosure of intimate images, in violation of 15 U.S.C. § 6851; (2) unauthorized disclosure of intimate images, in violation of Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-21-1401 et seq.; and (3) a request for permanent injunctive relief against Defendant.
Defendant denies wrongdoing, alleging that Plaintiff participated in and consented to the posting of the photographs online. He “assisted Plaintiff, with her knowledge, with trying to take some photographs down since 2022.” He assisted her in hiring an attorney to attempt to remove photos that had spread beyond RedClouds, but not all websites complied.
Defendant has also asserted counterclaims against Plaintiff. He alleges that he and Plaintiff were consumers of RedClouds content from 2006 to 2009, and that in 2009 or 2010, they “began using RedClouds as both content consumers and content creators.” Plaintiff allegedly “explicitly consented” to posting various photographs to RedClouds, initially with her face blacked out but eventually with her face visible. Defendant alleges that the parties continued to engage in erotic photography content creation until 2022, when they were no longer married.
Around that time, the parties began having disagreements over parenting and custody, disputes which continued through August 2024. Ultimately, Defendant decided to run for office, which he announced on August 29, 2024. Given the timing of Plaintiff’s Complaint, which she filed on August 29, 2024, Defendant believes his children told her about his run for office and she “timed the filing of this action to coincide with [Defendant’s] announcement” in a bid to h
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