For several years, Craig Brittain operated a so-called “revenge porn” website that not only allowed users to publicly post revealing photos and personal information about people (mostly women) without their permission, but actively encouraged it. The site has since been shut down and Brittain recently settled with the Federal Trade Commission over allegations of fraud. But now the man who made money off the sharing of strangers’ images doesn’t want the world to know what he looks like.

Ars Technica points out that Brittain recently filed a Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notice with Google, asking that the search engine block search results for numerous websites for “Unauthorized use of photos of me and other related information. Unauthorized use of statements and identity related information. Unauthorized copying of excerpts from isanybodydown.com. Using photos which are not ‘fair use’.”

Among the sites listed in the DMCA request are Vice.com, Gawker, HuffPo, Ars, reddit, Salon.com, Forbes, PopeHat, and two pages on the FTC website that contain information about the very settlement to which he agreed.

Google has taken no action and likely won’t, as Brittain is a public figure who has previously made himself available for TV news stories about his site. Unless he can claim a copyright on specific images, he can’t justifiably ask to have the content removed or blocked from search results.

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.

[via The Verge]

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