Ex from Hell gets six years for online stalking, revenge pics campaign against two women

A man from Virginia has been handed a six year prison sentence for stalking and threatening two ex-girlfriends with revenge porn pictures and video clips. Satyasurya Sahas Thumma was given the prison term on November 7 after he was convicted on counts of cyberstalking, unauthorized access of a protected computer, and …

[sbt]

Good, but also bad - title of your sex tape

It's good to see justice done, but is it churlish of me to note that this perp went on to harass a second victim after the first and wonder why it took so long to bring him in? It's not like he was hard to identify; if an idiot sends on or posts an intimate pic the victim has only sent to one person, who's going to be the main suspect if it gets out?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Good, but also bad - title of your sex tape

"I've been hacked!" So sorry, sir, we'll note your alibi.

"I was hacked again!" Now that the 'unlikely' has happened to you twice in greatly similar circumstances, we have to bump you to 'likely' as a suspect. Mind if we pry about a bit? It would only help your alibi this time... or not.

[earl grey]

My guess, he's lucky to be alive

Rule 1: never allow nude or compromising photos

Rule 2: never date dicks

Rule 3: never give in to threats

Rule 4: revenge is best served....

[Rich 11]

Re: My guess, he's lucky to be alive

Drop rule 4. You're not helping anyone there.

[A.P. Veening]

Re: My guess, he's lucky to be alive

I'd modify it to "Revenge is best left to Karma (and her sister Kismet)". I don't think he will have either a long or a happy life in prison.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: My guess, he's lucky to be alive

Rule #2 is difficult. Psychopaths can be charming and manipulative. To apply rule #2, you'd have to give all women a long course in the psychology and behaviour of psychopaths and controlling personalities.

[Ben Tasker]

Re: My guess, he's lucky to be alive

Rule 1 is verging on victim blaming.

We're all adults, and if someone wants to take nude pics of themselves they should be able to. If someone else steals/leaks them, the blame lies with that person. Not taking the pics means they can't leak, but having it as a "rule" removes individual control over their own body.

We don't consider it acceptable (any more) to tell a rape victim they shouldn't have worn a miniskirt, why is this any different?

[chivo243]

Re: My guess, he's lucky to be alive

In this day and age, anyone who brings a phone into the bedroom is asking for trouble... Blame society for that one. On one had we want to be free and show our junk to the world, on the other hand sometimes the world is aghast at what they see, and then we feel bad.

I once saw a poster for teens and etiquette on the internet. Would you want your grandma to see those pics? those social network posts etc... because once they are digital, they are forever, and most likely publicly available.

Besides anyone that needs photos of themselves doing it seem a bit crrrreeeepy to me.

[Paul Hovnanian]

Re: My guess, he's lucky to be alive

"In this day and age, anyone who brings a phone into the bedroom is asking for trouble"

Bedroom, den, kitchen, back yard, hotel room, etc. Things just seem to happen in some of the strangest places. It's getting so that you just can't whip your ...

... phone out anywhere these days.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: My guess, he's lucky to be alive

"We're all adults"

Physically maybe, mentally not so much, hence these issues.

While there is some overlap with victim blaming, human behaviour (mistakes/gloating/anger/jealousy leading to disclosure) is a significant factor.

[MachDiamond]

Re: My guess, he's lucky to be alive

"Rule 1 is verging on victim blaming."

I've known some girls (women) that go from one abusive relationship to the next. They seem to be attracted to "bad boys" and never figure out why they wind up with complete tossers. Don't they have any friends to clue them in? Sans friends that will pull them aside and tell them the guy they just met is another @ssH..., you'd think they would start seeing a pattern.

[Why Not?]

Re: My guess, he's lucky to be alive

Oh their friends tell them repeatedly, the wife has a few of these friends.

Its sad but different strokes for different folks.

Some people just don't have the right morals or standards to deal with modern life, its hard to deal with rejection, but I am glad this scumbag is locked up.

[Danny 2]

Re: My guess, he's lucky to be alive

@MachDiamond

I've known some girls (women) that go from one abusive relationship to the next. They seem to be attracted to "bad boys" and never figure out why they wind up with complete tossers.

Misleadingly sexist. I was in an relationship from 18 to 24 with an abusive girlfriend. At the time I never recognised that, and indeed wondered at the time why so many women stay in abusive relationships without realising I was. I've since read about the psychology behind it, covert NPDs, traumatic bonding, and isolating the victim from family and friends. It's interesting reading even if it hasn't affected you personally - certainly I noticed it straight away when my nephew started dating an NPD. He didn't have to suffer for six years, just one, but he did get stabbed and lost his career.

It is important to process it and learn from it or else you'll never trust anyone again.

[batfink]

Re: My guess, he's lucky to be alive

Interesting that you're getting downvotes without explanation. Methinks...

[BillG]

Relationships Go Bad and/or People Do Stupid Things

Ben Tasker wrote: Rule 1 is verging on victim blaming. We're all adults, and if someone wants to take nude pics of themselves they should be able to.

In theory, yes. In practice, relationships go bad and people do stupid things.

People with good intentions can still be careless. Someone else gets a hold of your phone and forwards the picture. Or the wrong photo is put in the wrong place. Or the photos are put on the phone's micro SD flash card which is later swapped out for as bigger one and the original card misplaced. Or the pictures are downloaded to your laptop which is viewed by someone else. Or the guy or girl you texted the photos to gets drunk and forwards the photos to contacts.

Ever buy a used hard drive off eBay? Sometimes they don't bother to delete any files. Even if they do delete files I do a deleted file recovery just for kicks. I find the usual porn and what looks like some nudes like in the article, but once I found a bunch of highly confidential legal documents.

Once when I bought a used Android phone off eBay the seller had not reset the phone or bothered to delete anything. No porn, but I was shocked to see a nice clean photo of a driver's license.

I know the kids on El Reg will have a hard time believing this but listen anyway - it is possible to have a fulfilling and meaningful loving relationship with someone that does not involved texting nude photos. Trust me on this.

Once it's out there, it's too late.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: My guess, he's lucky to be alive

I've always taken the view that photos sent to me are a nice thing and not to be abused.

If the relationship ends for what ever reason, then as far as I'm concerned, my disk space is too good for her - so all emails, photos are to securely deleted. Don't matter if its a few MB on a multi terabyte drive - delete delete!

[A.P. Veening]

Re: My guess, he's lucky to be alive

Rule #2 is difficult. Psychopaths can be charming and manipulative. To apply rule #2, you'd have to give all women a long course in the psychology and behaviour of psychopaths and controlling personalities.

Not only all women, but also all men, enough too many (young) men are and have been victims in similar cases.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: My guess, he's lucky to be alive

If you follow rule one you are doomed to never have meaningful relationships because you lack trust and trust is one of the founding parts of a relationship. If someone breaches that trust like in this case then they should be dealt with by the law.

Rule 2 is just plain naive, do you think that when someone dates a dick they act like dicks? That comes later and once it does it's too late.

I can actually agree with rule 3 however if you are in the situation that makes it 10 times harder to do. Have some empathy please.

Finally we get to Rule 4. Let me tell about a human condition known as suffering, you suffer when you have been wronged, you suffer when you can't do anything about it, you suffer when you keep thinking about something out of your control. As long as you keep thinking about revenge or karma you will keep suffering. It's bizarre that we as humans are conditioned to believe that suffering caused to others will solve our own. I'll agree it helps but it's not the solution and once you realise that you can finally be free. The moral is that you may not get revenge or karma however the only person that can move on is yourself.

Today's lesson in morality is brought to you with the letters F and U.

[MachDiamond]

Re: My guess, he's lucky to be alive

"If you follow rule one you are doomed to never have meaningful relationships because you lack trust and trust is one of the founding parts of a relationship. If someone breaches that trust like in this case then they should be dealt with by the law."

MMMMMMaybe. Trust is essential for a good relationship, but it needs to be earned and that takes time. Probably not a good idea to be sending naughty photos at the third date. This guy knew his exes family contact information, their church, friend's email, etc.

[jospanner]

Re: My guess, he's lucky to be alive

"The moral is that you may not get revenge or karma however the only person that can move on is yourself."

And the person can walk away and hurt someone else?

No.

[Anonymous Coward]

"do you think that when someone dates a dick they act like dicks? "

More often than you think, they do. Most of the times the clues are there - but some people prefer to ignore them for many different reasons, until it's too late.

You can also blame a society mindset that tell people to like aggressive tracts instead of mild ones, especially in men. Plus add the social stigma of being alone, or even pure economic reasons.

You can wait for revenge to come on its own, you don't really need to do anything. Bad people one day will become victims of themselves. Not always, but often enough.

[Cederic]

Re: My guess, he's lucky to be alive

Given some people get through literally decades of married life without seeing each other naked I'm bemused that you find #1 so difficult to comprehend.

There are two naked photographs of me in existence. I took them both. One is self-published on the internet and isn't compromising. The other is my passport photograph.

Girlfriends, friends, family members? None of them have either.

[sofaspud]

Re: My guess, he's lucky to be alive

Wait, wait wait wait.

Passport photos have to be nudes now?

Man, that's gotta be awkward. Not all of us are model-quality.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: My guess, he's lucky to be alive

Rule 3a - Reply with "so what? Big whoop you have nudie photos of me, you do realise how boring nudes are nowadays don't you? Even celeb nudes don't even get front page anymore"

Anyone who shames you, well thats on them isn't it, particularly family, less I say about "pious people" the better...the hypocrisy from them utterly stinks, as does feminists blaming other women for "normalising misogyny and toxic patriarchal attitudes" - its wrong, full stop.

Women are entitled to do as they want (within the law) without everyone shaming them

I read this horrible statement in the Independent (hence why I no longer read it) from a feminist arguing that "victimhood grants power and therefore women must maintain the role of the victim and fight against men ever being seen as victims"

My wife doesn't see herself as a victim (nor does she like when feminists say "all women are terrified to go out walking alone/at night/when a man walks on the same side of the street or behind a woman" - really gets her pee boiling), she sees herself as an independent woman and can and does give as well as she gets, one of the few areas where her mother raised her right - someone verbally lays into you call them out and give as good as you get, someone attacks you/tries to rape you - fight back, leave serious marks and draw blood

[Andy Tunnah]

Re: My guess, he's lucky to be alive

Er excuse me but you wanna wind it back a bit there ? Absolutely allow nude pics. Allow nude videos. Record you doing whatever the hell you want, and share them with a partner, add some spice in your life. Give em a surprise at work, give em a surprise out on a do, give em a surprise while they're taking a dump. Raunch from your partner is fantastic, and I am firmly against this climate of "well you shouldn't have taken em in the first place". No, let's just start stringing up the sick bastards who put em out to the wider world by their danglies.

[Steve Davies 3]

But...?

On both occasions, the harassment and threats centered around nude photos and video clips the women had sent him during their time together.

I hope that this practice (sending nude photos to anyone) stops ASAP.

There is no excuse for his behaviour at all. He deserves 20 years but it would help if people were a little more careful about what they did with a camera and a computer then this sort of thing might stop but somehow I doubt it.

[defiler]

Re: But...?

It's only a naked body. We've all got one.

Sending things like that to groups like the church will only flag up how unnecessarily prudish these groups are. You know what? My mum and dad did their fair share of fucking - that's why I'm here and why I have a brother. My parents are under no delusions that I've somehow avoided getting my freak on with my wife since we also have kids.

These pictures are personal and private, and should have been kept so - the antagonist in this case is a big bag of dicks for sending them out. But at the same time they shouldn't be shameful, and I'd like to hope that the distribution of these pictures says more about him than about her.

So long as your kink is legal and consensual you shouldn't be ashamed about it. Unless shame is, in fact, your kink - in that case go to town!

[Anonymous Coward]

"It's only a naked body. We've all got one."

If so, it wouldn't be even a misdemeanor sharing them. Most people don't like to show it to everybody, especially if it's not an artistic nude but something far more erotic.

Frankly I have issue to understand why a phone with a camera is turning most people into exhibitionist children - probably too much porn has burned brains and people can't enjoy sex until it's shown in a photo/video.

[defiler]

Re: "It's only a naked body. We've all got one."

Well you read that thoroughly then, didn't you?

I didn't say that it was fine to share them. In fact quite the opposite. These are "personal and private", and people who have their intimate pictures distributed without their consent should be furious about it, and the law should back them up.

I'm saying that they shouldn't be ashamed, and that these cases tend to be elements of society projecting their own shame onto the victim.

Whether you agree with the taking of these pictures is about as relevant as whether you agree with pineapple on pizza - what consenting adults get up to in the privacy of their own home is none of your business, and saying that taking the pictures is somehow bad or wrong is pinning the blame on the victim.

[Anonymous South African Coward]

What is the angle regarding the protected PC?

Just what is a protected PC exactly? Reading between the lines I can think it must be a governmental PC of some sorts.

[Phil Kingston]

One protected with a username/password

[herman]

The only defense against slut shaming is to sign up to a web streaming fake orgasm site and make so much more steamy video footage, that the original footage becomes worthless...

[A.P. Veening]

Being a minor when that photo was taken and accusing that asshole of spreading childporn works even better, he'll go away for a couple of years and his reputation is in tatters for the rest of his life.

[veti]

Unfortunately, then the person who took and sent the picture in the first place is also in big trouble.

[Twanky]

Sharing

Sharing any information with anyone will have consequences. Some consequences may be wonderful and others could be terrible. If you share anything you have to be ready for consequences. If you share anything on social media, by shouting on the street corners, via private messages or in whispers 'behind the bike shed' you have to be ready for the fallout - and we have to teach kids this.

[jospanner]

Re: Sharing

"Never have secrets or trust anyone ever" is not a healthy way to live your life.

[Twanky]

Re: Sharing

I think you miss the point. 'Some consequences may be wonderful'. You have to be ready for that too.

When people have different expectations of an interaction (not even a 'relationship') then at least one of them is likely to be disappointed. We have to teach the future generations to think before they share. Before they share with a friend and before they share with advertising mega-corps.

[KBeee]

The thing that amazed me was how quick it came to court, and got a verdict/sentence! I'm used to seeing things like "Was first reported to the police in 2011..." Well done Justice System (for once).

[Cederic]

I think this is a situation in which there are numerous complaints, many of which are not actionable, or that can be addressed without needing prosecution. Destroying someone's life when "Get a grip man" is a more appropriate response would be excessive.

Sadly this is also an area in which malicious actors seek to destroy someone's life through false accusation, requiring a thorough investigation and a level of caution from the authorities.

Then there's the inherent difficulty in tracking down a well anonymised account. Often it can be done but it's not quick or easy, so there needs to be justification for assigning the resources needed.

All of that adds up to cause even more damage to the genuine victims. Not just slower recourse to justice but also often just unable to access it.

No easy answers either. It's going to continue to be an issue society has to contend with.

[TheProf]

aggravated identity theft.

aggravated identity theft?

Can't see any identity theft reference in the story. How do you aggravate the theft of identity?

[Twanky]

Re: aggravated identity theft.

By exploiting the identity theft to commit a further crime.

I agree that's not apparent in the article though.

[Richocet]

Enforcement

I wonder if the an exception was made to the normal police practice of not enforcing these laws because the perpetrator was not a caucasian?

Regardless, it's good thing that he got sentenced and this will make others think twice - many of them couldn't do the time in the brutal US prison system, so maybe they won't do the crime.

Maybe the investigation and prosecution of these creeps will be extended to other demographics in future. Let's hope so.

[Richocet]

Re: Enforcement

I know my comment was controversial. I'm interested in why the down-votes as I can think of a few reasons for them, if anyone can elaborate.

1) The US police aren't ever racially biased.

2) Disagree that sentencing this guy to a prison sentence is a deterrent to others

3) Think that the US prison system is pleasant

4) We won't see more prosecutions like this anytime soon.

5) Another reason

[earl grey]

good discussion

Even though it got a few (?) downvotes, you have to understand i'm an old married git (40+ years) with three female sprog. Maybe I'm just overprotective where i don't need to be, maybe i'm just an ornery sob.

thanks to all for the differing viewpoints.

[randonnamegenerator]

Why should sex or nudity be shameful?

Thanks to Jaweh and Allah. Jesus got on fairly well with prostitutes but those parts of the gospels were never very popular in english churches. At least in public.

[Twanky]

Re: Why should sex or nudity be shameful?

Hmm... Where to start with this?

The Abrahamic religions are pretty clear that Jaweh and Allah are the same geezer. It is also widely accepted in those religions that sex and nudity were not meant to be shameful in that God could tell something had gone awry in Eden when Adam and Eve tried to hide from him because they were naked - or at least used that as the excuse.

I don't think the Gospels have a lot to say about Jesus' attitude to prostitutes exactly; unless you are one of those who hold the opinion that a person who has sex without being formally married is a prostitute. The story of the woman 'caught in the very act of adultery' shows she was protected from a wildly disproportionate punishment (disproportionate even for the time - presumably she was having sex with someone else) but told to go and not do it again. It's arguable that it wasn't the having sex that was bad, but the breaking of marriage promises (I am not a scholar of religion). I have no doubt at all that around 2,000 years ago in parts of the Middle East women were treated unfairly - it might even be worse these days; it's difficult to tell.

The various religions have a history of outrageous excesses of violence, intimidation and exploitation against different groups which are impossible to reconcile with the 'ten' commandments. All we can do now is aspire to be better than that.

[Alister]

Re: Why should sex or nudity be shameful?

Jesus got on fairly well with prostitutes but those parts of the gospels were never very popular in english churches

The idea that Mary Magdelene was a prostitute was an invention of Pope Gregory, and has no basis in the original gospels. Western Christianity has taken this on board, but Eastern Orthodoxy has no comparable belief.

[Marty McFly]

There is a saying guys use....

.... "Never stick your dick in Crazy". I imagine the gals have (should have?) a similar phrase.