INDIANAPOLIS – Months after an Indianapolis woman was the victim of revenge porn, she wanted to share her story as she is seeking justice against her perpetrator.
Colene Speckman, 18, said she felt violated after she found a provocative photo of herself on the Internet that was posted by a former high school classmate who she declined to go on a date with.
"He shows me one of the pictures and it's me covering my breasts and I was grossed out. I said how did you get this picture. I didn't even send this to you,” said Speckman.
The former classmate didn’t explain how he got the photo, but it was uploaded to a website operated out of another country. Users can search images by state and high school and several central Indiana schools are on there.
"You can name any foreign country and these sites are there. As far as being able to restrict them or take the content down, it’s next to impossible,” said Indiana State Police Capt. Dave Bursten.
Speckman said she is finding it difficult to pursue legal action as foreign countries aren’t obligated to follow U.S. law enforcement, and Indiana doesn’t have a law prohibiting the sharing of private photos.
“Indiana does not have a specific revenge porn law,” said attorney Alex Beeman. “Most of the context and circumstances I've gotten fit under the current criminal scheme, but it would be very helpful obviously if Indiana passed something that addressed it more specifically. "
Speckman is on her way to college this week and said she refuses to be a victim.
“I'm still embarrassed about this, like this is something that I still feel very uncomfortable talking about, but if I can stand up and show people that they are not alone, then I will tell my story,” she said.
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More information can be found on the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative website.
