Facebook ordered to reveal revenge porn IP addresses

22 Oct 2014

TOKYO, JAPAN: A Tokyo court has ordered Facebook to disclose the IP addresses used by fake accounts that were posting revenge porn on its pages, in the first such case in Japan.

Facebook was ordered to reveal the IP addresses of two fake accounts used to post revealing revenge porn photographs taken of a woman in Tokyo. Image: V-News

"In response to the order the US-based social networking site revealed IP addresses connected to two accounts that were uploading personal information and private pictures," lawyer Yohei Shimizu said. IP addresses comprise a string of numbers that identify the computer being used.

"The posts included photos that could be considered to be revenge porn," Shimizu told AFP. "Even though my client could guess who was behind it, she had no proof."

Shimizu said the court order was made in August and involved two accounts that were being, falsely, managed in his client's name. Facebook complied with the order 10 days later.

"Identifying a person who is masquerading as someone else online is not an easy task," Shimizu said. "But when armed with the fake account's IP address, his client had been able to approach the Internet provider and get the details of the user," he added.

He said it was the first such case in Japan involving the world's largest social network, but confirmed the Tokyo District Court had issued a similar order in a separate case involving defamation in August.

Earlier this month a Japanese court ordered Google to delete search results linking the claimant to a crime he did not commit, the latest in a series of rulings around the world on what search engines are allowed to tell users.

Britain's government has proposed creating a new criminal offence of posting "revenge porn", punishable by a maximum jail term of two years.

Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge

Source: I-Net Bridge

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