Playing a major role in the conviction of Hunter Moore, viewers are asking where is Charlotte Laws now
When her daughter became one of Hunter Moore’s revenge porn victims, Charlotte Laws did everything she could to bring down the man responsible for the humiliation caused. Moore, the self-styled “professional life ruiner” created revenge porn hub IsAnyoneUp.com. Site users could submit nude photos of men and women, without either knowledge or consent. A new 3 part Netflix documentary The Most Hated Man on The Internet documents Charlotte Laws’ journey to have Moore convicted for his crimes. The series interviews other victims of his crimes, and fans of his misogynistic website he named “The Family”. Here’s everything we know about where revenge porn activist Charlotte Laws is now.
It's not only Charlotte Laws viewers of the documentary are interested in. As founder of the horrific revenge porn website, many are asking where Hunter Moore is now. Those who have viewed Skye Borgman’s latest investigation are also asking where is Franklin Floyd now from Girl in The Picture? Whilst true crime enthusiasts are now asking where is Kai Lawrence from The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker.
Where is Charlotte Laws now?
Charlotte currently resides in Los Angeles with her British barrister husband, and works as a political pundit. Her present jobs are listed as author, TV personality and public speaker.
She remains working as a revenge porn activist following her part in Moore’s conviction, and is also an animal rights activist. According to her website, Laws began her career as an actress and cover girl for magazines. The completion of several degrees, masters qualifications, and a doctorate led her to host her own news show. The show, entitled Uncommon Sense, ran between 2007 and 2010. She then became a weekly commentator on the NBC Show, between 2009 and 2013.
I just did an interview on The News Desk in the UK about the "Most Hated Man on the Internet" and revenge porn. @TheNewsDesk @TalkTV #revengeporn Please call your political reps and ask them to support a federal law in the US! https://t.co/xF3mnXadCAJuly 27, 2022
Laws can currently be found working as a political pundit for the BBC, where she discusses American politics. She is also very active on Twitter, promoting her work and raising the profile of causes she is passionate about.
What happened to Charlotte Laws’ daughter?
Charlotte Laws’ daughter Kayla was a victim of revenge porn perpetrator Hunter Moore. At the time, she was 24-years-old, and an aspiring actress.
In October 2011, Kayla Laws took a series of private photographs of herself on her mobile, for personal use. Wanting to free up space on her phone, she emailed the pictures to herself, for storage on her own computer. However, in January 2012 her computer was hacked, and the private images uploaded to Moore’s Is Anyone Up site. Laws had not consented to the images being posted, and they also linked to her public social media accounts.
Working as a waitress at the time, Laws enlisted the help of her mother Charlotte Laws, to get the pictures removed from the site. This was not easy - they encountered a stream of removal requests being ignored, even when they provided proof of hacking. Moore was able to claim copyright for the pictures, and they stayed on his site. Strangers began contacting Kayla via the links to her social media site listed with the hacked pictures, further adding to her trauma.
Kayla’s stepfather Charles Parselle worked as an attorney at the time. Even when he came on board to fight the copyright claim, it still took months for the pictures to be removed. Charlotte Laws fought tirelessly for her daughter’s cause, and to have Moore convicted for his crimes - a fight that continued into 2015 and involved the FBI. The Laws family eventually won and the hacked photos were taken down, not before months of trauma had been inflicted on Kayla.
Where is Kayla Laws now?
Kayla Laws lives in Los Angeles, and works as a real estate agent. According to The Cinemaholic, she works at Coldwell Banker Realty, and covers the San Fernando Valley, Santa Clarita Valley, and Ventura areas.
Kayla recently married her long-time boyfriend on July 10, 2022, now using the name Kayla Laws Collins. She was the only victim of Moore’s to make a statement during his sentencing hearing, citing inspiration from her mother to give her the courage to do so.
Of Moore, she said he “called himself a professional life ruiner, and that’s exactly what he did to me… I felt exposed, ashamed, and broke into tears”.
She also spoke of losing acting work because of him, adding “I was hoping no one would see it, but within a day, I lost a role in a film. Not to mention the tens of thousands of strangers who saw, commented on, or possibly even saved the photo… I will carry the trauma of this experience with me for the rest of my life”.
Who is James McGibney?
James McGibney is a former Marine, entrepreneur, and anti-bullying activist, who assisted Charlotte Laws in having site Is Anyone Up taken down.
According to Netflix, McGibney owned the anti-bullying site BullyVille.com, when he heard about Is Anyone Up. Angered by the content, he sought to trick Moore into selling the site to him.
Gaining Moore’s trust by becoming an advertising partner for the site, he convinced him to sell him the site on the agreement McGibney would continue uploading degrading pictures to it.
In 2012, McGibney purchased the site for $15,000 and immediately took it offline, redirecting traffic to his anti-bullying resources. An enraged Moore used his Twitter account to defame McGibney, and threaten him and his family. McGibney sued Moore for his threats and remarks in 2013.
Is Revenge Porn a crime?
According to UK law firm Stephensons, from 2015 in England and Wales, it is an offence to share private sexual images or videos on or offline without consent, and with the intention to cause distress.
Under Section 33 of the Criminal Justice and Court Act 2015, the offence can potentially carry the punishment of up to two years in prison. Revenge porn can also be referred to as ‘image based sexual abuse’, also relating to private sexual videos or photos shared online or offline without explicit consent. It can also be an offence for others to share the images or videos, even if they were not the first to share them.
Prior to this 2015 legislation, police could prosecute revenge porn under the Communications Act 2003, the Malicious Communications Act 1988, or Protection from Harassment Act 1997. However, the recent legislation makes sharing of images and videos a specific offence in their own right.
Does revenge porn include text messages?
Yes, revenge porn includes text messages. The 2015 legislation covers all social media platforms and electronic communication - including text messages.
Victim services Nest asks those taking explicit images of themselves to think of the consequences of forwarding explicit images - once the image is sent, the owner no longer controls it. Even when images are not forwarded, phones can still get lost or stolen, and images from them shared. Malicious software can also steal images to be shared, or the service used to forward them may be hacked and the images stolen.
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