Revenge porn has been a thing since porn was a thing. However, with the advancement of technology, it’s become a bigger problem than ever. HD videos shot on mobile phones, AI technology and apps like Snapchat are making it easier to make revenge porn.

As the rise in revenge porn continues, so is it’s crackdown. The only problem is that the laws haven’t caught up to adequately define what revenge porn is and how it should be dealt with.

Porn trend “deepfakes” which use AI technology to superimpose one person’s facial features onto any photo and video have been classed as revenge porn. However, whether this is revenge or copyright isn’t clear.

Can it be revenge if someone puts Taylor Swift’s face on a Jessica Drake video? Or is it copyright infringement, first for Taylor Swift, but also for the production company that made the original porn tape?

Or does it count as identity theft since they are stealing someone’s face? Could it be classified as something much more sinister? After all, your face could be put on sexual imagery without your consent. There is also an avenue for the creation of childporn or beastiality with the same software, using images of anyone’s child or pet.

Despite the whole situation being unchartered territory, there is a crackdown on revenge porn. Websites such as Reddit have banned the subreddits that were sharing and promoting deepfake images. Pornhub, Discord and Twitter have also put out policies in place banning the upload of deepfake porn.

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Paid to watch porn

A new cryptocurrency site is hoping to pay users to watch porn. The Vice Industry works in two ways. First, it will be a normal paysite with porn available to buy.

Secondly, it will work to reward users who contribute on the website with it’s own cryptocurrency Vice Industry Tokens (VIT) which will be redeemable for premium services around adult industry websites.

“People’s attention is a valuable and scarce resource. The Vice Industry Token platform upends the ad-driven commercial model to capitalise on the new ‘Attention Economy’, permitting porn publishers to actively engage with viewers by rewarding them with VIT for their genuine attention and authentic engagement.”

2 billion out of 4 billion VIT will be available to the public to buy on February 15th. The rest may be released for purchase at a later date, or saved to be collected by users using the Vice Industry platforms.

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