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A UBC student whose nude photos were posted online by a vengeful ex is just one of many searching for justice — and a way to permanently remove the private property from the world wide web.

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Anisa Salmi, who just completed her masters in occupational therapy, felt “violated” when she Googled her name last month to find private, personal images of herself — once shared with a former partner — plastered over the Internet.

“I felt hopeless,” the 27-year-old told The Vancouver Province about finding her photos, alongside a slew of nasty comments, on the notorious website thedirty.com. “If anybody — an employer or client — were to Google my name and were to find these photos and the posts and the comments that were made about me, I felt it would jeopardize my integrity.”

After doing some research and speaking with lawyers, Salmi says she’s a victim of defamation, cyberbullying, breach of privacy and a violation of copyright, as the photos belonged to her and were leaked without her consent.

Unable to afford legal fees for a civil defamation suit, she turned to police, but only left feeling blamed, as she was told it wasn’t a crime “because I shared the photos willingly.”

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So she searched for cyberbullying resources, but most were catered to minors. It wasn’t until she found a U.S.-based website, thedirtydefenders.com, specifically specializing in removing thedirty.com posts not only from the site, but also from search engines, that Salmi finally found her solution.