Pictou women's photos posted on amateur porn site under investigation

Several women in Pictou County, N.S., were shocked to discover this week their nude pictures wereshared online to an amateur pornography sitewithout their permission.

Kayde Stanley of Stellarton didn't have nude photos posted but there wereanonymous people requesting nude pictures of her and some of her friends. The requests also involved comments about local women.

"The comments were just degrading and disrespectful," Stanley told CBC's Maritime Noon."They were basically rating these women and talking about how they were in bed, insulting comments it was all really horrific."

When she first called police about the website, she was disappointed with how the RCMP officer reacted.

"We were informed that it wasn't illegal," Stanley said."The attitude was basically, 'If you take these kind of pictures, then what do you expect?'"

Officer didn't know law

However, it's been illegal to publish, transmit or distribute imagestaken in an intimate setting without a person's consentsince April 2015, after high-profile changes to the Criminal Code of Canada.

RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Jennifer Clarke said the the officer who responded to the complaint did not recognize there was anything illegal. She said after doing some research, he realized there was a new section in the Criminal Code that applied to thecase.

"The attention that's been given to the section, just in the media and from the public, is really a good thing for us because it's helping everyone the public and the police be more familiar with the site," saidClarke.

The officer then called Stanley to say RCMP would look into it.That investigation is ongoing, Clarke said.

Police 'very apathetic'

Stanley said she thinks media attention pushed police to investigate further.

"I was pretty outraged at their attitude and the fact that they spent less than an hour looking into it before they called me and told me they weren't going to do anything," she said.

"It just seems very apathetic, and it would have been nice to have a little more concern on their part."

Some photos 'taken without their knowledge'

The majority of the photos were nudes of women in Pictou County. She started contacting the women she knew and found some were aware of the site, but others were in the dark.

"Most of them were pictures sent in an intimate, private relationship with the understanding that it was meant for that one person. A few people have told me that their pictures were taken without their knowledge," Stanley said.

"I was shocked that it was happening around here. Sadly, it's not really surprising that these websites exist, but it hits closer to home, for sure, when it's local girls."

The Anon-V amateurpornography sitewhere the nude photos were posted was taken down Tuesday night.

"We have no idea who took the site down," said Clarke.

'It feels personal'

Stanley believes someone local who knows the women is responsible for the posts. The men were posting using first names and last initials.

"One of my friends is married, they used her married name so it feels personal," she said."It could be anyone. It could be someone we could call a friend and we have no idea."

Woman wants charges laid

Since going public about the photos, Stanley said she's seen many comments with "disgusting" victim-blaming, to the effect of:"These aren't victims. They let the pictures get out."

To those responsible, Stanley has a message.

"I wish they would even think of one person, one woman who they respect in their life, and imagine if it was happening to them," she said."I think it's absolutely disgusting."

Stanley wants criminal charges laid against those who posted the photos.

"If they don't have any consequences, then what's to stop them from continuing to show the pictures or find a new site to post them on?"

Police tech experts consulted

As part of the investigation, Clarke said police have consulted their technological crime unit as well as their internet child exploitation unit.

Pictou County RCMP have so far received one complaint "to do with this particular incident," Clarke confirmed.

She said anyone considering sending an intimate image to another person should think twice.

"If you do happen to send an intimate image of yourselfto another person that you trust, once that image has been received on another device it can go anywhere and we have no control over where that image goes," said Clarke.