Craigslist prank outs Seattle perverts

Craigslist sex prankster outs men:

This is way too funny and it makes me wonder why I didn’t think of something like this…

Craigslist, the hugely successful internet classified ad site, has long been known for the rather, um, honest nature of its personal ads. From fetishists seeking out others with the same kink, to office workers looking for quick, anonymous hookups during their lunch break, Craigslist has revolutionised the way people around the world get their sexing.

But the seemingly anonymous freedom it allows appears to have lulled many into a false sense of security, and in Seattle, over a hundred and fifty of them have just found their personal details published on the web for the whole world to see.

A ‘prankster’ named Jason Fortuny; a web developer in Seattle – posted an explicit advert (copied from a different city’s personal ads) on the Seattle Craigslist site, posing as a submissive female seeking an aggressive, dominant man for sex. He wanted to see how many responses he could get in 24 hours.

He received a grand total of 178 responses via email, many including sexually explicit photos of the men  which he then proceeded to post, in their entirety, on the web.

Many of the men used their real names to contact the ’27 yo sexy str8 woman’. Many used their work email addresses. Some sent phone numbers, or instant messenger screen names. Out of the 178, 145 of them sent pictures  some just of their faces, many others of ruder, less public parts of their anatomy. A good number of them admitted they were married.

‘I was a logger, but now I’m in finance. I’m 35 years old, 6’2″ tall, muscular, strong, pushy, and don’t have time to f*** around wasting our time,’ wrote one.

Another said: ‘Im 22 and i will make you scream in pain but in a good way.’

And the Microsoft employee, who also provided his cellphone number, sent a message saying: ‘I’m married and looking to fill the needs not being done at home. So if you’re still reading, look at my picture, and think about it…’

Fortuny published them all in full, and then set his readers the goal of tracking down and outing the real life identities of as many of them as possible.

At least one man who used a work email address was identified by a colleague; working at Microsoft. Some readers, horrified by the invasion of privacy, emailed many of the men to let them know they’d been had. Fortuny; whose own personal details, including his home address, are readily available online; has already received one threat of violence.

I’m going to try something like this but with a slightly different twist. Stay tuned.

Comments

26 responses to “Craigslist prank outs Seattle perverts”

  1. K Avatar
    K

    That is funny as hell. I’ve done something similar on CL looking for nude models. I got two responses with pics.

  2. T Avatar
    T

    How is this cool? These guys answered an ad placed by another adult, isn’t that their right? Who the fuk is Jason to make a moral decision about other people. Hope he gets a serious ass kicking

  3. Home Sweet Home Avatar

    Hey, once you send an email, it belongs to the person you sent it too, and they can do with it what they wish. Something to keep in mind.LOL, Trench I can’t wait to see what you have in mind. Knowing you, it will be a doozy!

  4. nucal Avatar
    nucal

    Jason Fortuny’s life is currently imploding. His business website is now gone (along with it’s privacy policy — oops). He’s the target of multiple lawsuits. He may be in violation of several laws. On google, his business name is now synonymous with “public release of private information” and “cock picktures.” And he’s also got 170 violent pervs out in the world who would love to do him harm.Ha ha ha. Very funny.If you think this was a clever prank, then I STRONGLY urge you to copy it.

  5. BelchSpeak Avatar

    This was absolutely brilliant! I love it and if I ever feel adventurous, I might try it myself.The people that are horrified at this must have something dark to hide. Anything sent in clear text over the internet is read by other people besides the intended recipients. Period. There is no expectation to privacy when reading smtp based email, nor HTTP based email.My own privacy statement on my website says I can use any emails or files sent to me in any way I wish, and once I receive it, the copyright belongs to me.

  6. tonye Avatar
    tonye

    Hmm… to say that “what do they have to hide…” to justify what happened is FASCIST.But, fundamentally and of legal importance is:How does Fortuny know that the people who sent him the email were themselves not been spoofed?Just as Fortuny misrepresented himself, in itself perhaps a crime, those who email him might be also misrepresenting themselves and trying to hurt someone else.It’t the old “For a good time call 8675309” on the bathroom walls.Oh boy, Not only did Fortuny really fuck up from an ethical standpoint, but he’s also shown how little he knows about how the Internet works.Pretty lame from anyone… but from someone who’r purports to be a Web designer?Hah! I hope he finds a boyfriend in State Prison.

  7. K Pok Pok Pok Avatar

    I’m having trouble seeing what’s so funny about this, but I think the punchline here is that Jason Fortuny is a liar and shouldn’t be trusted. Seriously, what an immature little asshat. :-PK Pok

  8. BelchSpeak Avatar

    Tonye:I am not too sure you understand the definition of FASCIST. And Fortuny did not break any law.What you fail to comprehend is that the people that emailed Fortuny are the ones that got themselves in trouble. Not Fortuny.To blame Fortuny is to blame the cops for running sting operations on crack dealers. Granted this was not a law enforcement operation, but Fortuny did not make these men try to cheat on their wives or put pictures of their junk into emails to send it to him.And why would you wish that he would be anally raped in prison? He did nothing wrong, nor illegal.

  9. asdfasdffs Avatar
    asdfasdffs

    ive done stuff similar to this, but im not going to get into the details. lets just say, i would never do anything malicious to anyone who didnt deserve it. i never fuk with innocent people. what fortuny did was just straight pu$$y.

  10. zota Avatar
    zota

    “To blame Fortuny is to blame the cops for running sting operations on crack dealers.”1) Consentual sex is not crack. Your comparison makes you sound like you have the same extreme conservative moral agenda that Fortuny has. If you think consensual adult sex is the same as illegal drugs, maybe you should move somewhere morally pure, like Saudi Arabia.2) Fortuny is not a cop. Clearly he has dominator cop abuse fantasies (or does he just pretend to have them for the cock pictures?) But he has no authority — legal or otherwise — for his little “experiment.”3) He did do something illegal. Look up “intentional infliction of emotional distress” and then read his blog. He *proudly* stated the fact that he did this to just to act like an asshole in public and ruin some lives, lol.There’s also a clear right to privacy for personal communication. Yes, even with strangers. And those are just the civil suits against him. You think there might be a prosecutor who wants to “get tough” on privacy in an election year? Quite possibly, I think. Fortuny is screwed. Legally, and eventually, literally.4) Fascism relies on the willing cooperation of a population to act as agents of authority, internalizing the role of moral cop, ratting each other out for imagined violations and thought crimes. It doesn’t matter that the people Fortuny attacked are stupid or pervy. And it doesn’t matter if you mask it with “lulz.” Fortuny’s actions are what they are.5) Look up the definiton of sociopath. Consider what you’re defending and what that says about you.

  11. AmazingRando Avatar
    AmazingRando

    WOW. Just.. wow.Anyone who would condone this sort of behavior deserves what they get. I hope someone gives Mr. Jason Fortuny what’s coming to him, since the Internet is a two-way street. It would be a terrible shame if the blogosphere were to email his clients with the details of his little ‘prank’, and push the gory details of his total disregard for common decency to the top of Google.A reminder to all you asshats who thought this was funny – there’s nothing illegal in their interests – and next time it’ll be your pet hobby that gets pranked.

  12. Maverick Avatar
    Maverick

    Yeah, I believe that IS against the Craigslist terms or use, and believe that means it IS grounds for legal action. Some people clearly were not enjoying their lives, who is anybody to judge them? Maybe they were in open relationships, maybe they wanted to stay together for the kids, or maybe they were maliciously trying to hurt their wives. No matter which way or reason, HE HAD NO RIGHT to personally attack, defame, and slander those people NO MATTER WHAT his personal ideas were.

  13. BelchSpeak Avatar

    Jason Fortuny did not slader anyone since he merely published the works written by other people.Jason did not judge anyone either. He merely published some works.There are no terms of service for Craigs List.

  14. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    “Jason Fortuny did not slader anyone since he merely published the works written by other people. “Yeah not slander, copyright violation. Creators of all works retain copyright. The pictures, the emails, all are implicitly copyrighted upon creation under US copyright law.Sending someone a photo does not confer right to publish it. IANAL, but it seems like reasonable grounds for suit. If I were a victim here (and I’m not), that’s the avenue I would pursue.Legal status or no – Jason is a class A jerk. I hope this costs him big in the end.

  15. Keke Avatar
    Keke

    To the curious, check out Encyclopedia DramaticaEvery single response, every pic to Jason’s craigslist ad

  16. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    “There are no terms of service for Craigs List.”You are completely wrong.http://www.craigslist.org/about/terms.of.use.htmlJason broke at least three terms:7. g) impersonation7. h) releasing another person’s information without their consent7. i) deceptive, misleading content

  17. Craig Avatar
    Craig

    It’s possible that the guy is a real lying jerk, *and* that this has some interesting aspects as ‘throwing a monkey wrench into a machine’ where there is little accountability for wrongdoing.Where was the justice for the wife being cheated on outside of this stunt?If people are forced to give up some bad behavior because they no longer can trust the system to allow it, and instead have to limit their e-mails to ones they can stand behind if revealed publically, until a trust is established – that’s not an entirely negative development. There’s two sides to the story. Of course, harming innnocent, trusting people is another side.He could have filtered the ones he made public.Yet another angle is the possibility that a flaw in the system was revealed and it might prevent others from being embarrassed as they are more discreet.And it might just be an incident quickly forgotten as an aberration.

  18. BelchSpeak Avatar

    I am not arguing to say that what Fortuny did was right. Yes, its icky.But there is no enforceable terms of use for Craigs List. If you violate the AUP, you get your account yanked, thats it. Besides, did you read this little bit in the TOS about content?You understand that all postings, messages, text, files, images, photos,video, sounds, or other materials (“Content”) posted on, transmittedthrough, or linked from the Service, are the sole responsibility of theperson from whom such Content originated. More specifically, you areentirely responsible for each individual item (“Item”) of Content that youpost, email or otherwise make available via the Service. You understand that craigslist does not control, and is not responsible for Content made available through the Service, and that by using the Service, you may be exposed to Content that is offensive, indecent, inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise objectionable.There is not reasonable expectation to privacy for unencrypted email. You can whine and wish there were, but there is not. It is sent in clear text over the internet and can be read at every hop along the way.As far as copyright goes, written email could be copyrighted, but 99 percent of it is not. You have to claim a copyright on your email when you send it to protect it. You know, the little c with the circle around it?The ironic part is that Jason Fortuny used the laws of Fair Use to create a whole new work about pervs on Craigs List. That new work is copyrighted.

  19. Trench Avatar

    Did all the e-mails have a © on them? No? Then not copyrighted.Not only am I still LOLing I’m also ROFLCOPTERing.

  20. bobgoon Avatar
    bobgoon

    “Hey, once you send an email, it belongs to the person you sent it too, and they can do with it what they wish. Something to keep in mind”No You Don’t. The copright wrt to the text belongs to the author: You don’t have the right to distribute it. Same for any pictures.Still LOLling?Great, step up and contribute to Jason’s legal defense fund. He’s going to need it soon, whether he’s smart enough to realise it or not…

  21. allen Avatar
    allen

    This was actually a test of desperation – would a horny guy settle by having his dick sucked by an ugly man. Jason disclosed afterward that he was a man and that he wanted to suck their cocks. So far he has sucked 122 of 178 responders cocks. I think the experiment proved that many guys will go gay in desperation. I have no idea why this has been twisted into the current bogus story. Maybe Jason is covering up the fact he has been sucking cocks.

  22. Here's one better Avatar

    This seems to be a serious site..http://www.craigslist-perverts.orgThey lay the smack down on guys all over thenation…

  23. JM Avatar
    JM

    Great debate everyone!A few things… Works are copyrighted at the moment they are written, with or without the (c) symbol or having them officially documented. Period. Emails are included. No, there is no right to privacy issue here but there is a copyright issue.Much easier though would be intentional infliction of emotional distress. This is clear from the would be defendants own writings. And I mean easy. The post above about it being an election year was very apt. as well. While there is no technical privacy issue, there is a political one.Bottom line: He’s looking at some 150 + potential IIED cases, 150 + copyright violations as well as a potential breach of contract with Craig’s list should they choose to file.Funny but not for the reason the “moral” people here would say. He broke a bunch of laws, these men broke none. (the act of sex with another may be against the law if married to someone else, but not “attempted sex”)

  24. BelchSpeak Avatar

    JM,Sorry, but wrong on all counts. There are special exceptions to copyrights for emails and electronic transmissions. See http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.htmlIIED cases? Puh. You need to consider the role the people played in this. Fortuny did not go out seeking any victims. People chose to respond to his ad. Fortuny did not go to these peoples’ homes or businesses and coerce them into writing dark fantasies onto emails which they then decided to make public.And Craig’s List makes no claims whatsoever as to any legal authority involved in anything posted on the site. So no case there either.

  25. PFTG Avatar
    PFTG

    If any woman of any size of intelligence, needs validation, visit CraigsList or dating websites.This is amusing and also sad. If anything, it shows just how poorly-disciplined and empty many males actually are. And how much power women have.

  26. stgeorge Avatar
    stgeorge

    What were you planning on doing? Doing it with a gay ad would keep you from perpetrating fraud, and you’d get TONS of married men to out.

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