It's not hard to imagine what anyone, including a potential employer, would see if they searched under the woman's name.
"If you Google her name, everything is right there," her attorney, Ryanne Konan, told reporters.
That indicates that it will be very hard for her to get a job, or even an internship, Konan noted, not to mention the destruction of her online reputation.
Now the woman is seeking to have her name entirely removed from search engine results. While all three search engines have areas where people can report non-consensual pornographic posts and ask for them to be removed, none of the websites have responded to her complaint, Konan said.
As a result, the woman and her attorney have filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit demanding that the search engines de-index the set of words that comprise her name.
"I wanted Google to know that we were serious," he said.
There is no precedent for the lawsuit, law experts note, but Konan is ready to become the first, if it helps to to save the woman's reputation. The problem is further complicated, as New York is one of the few states that currently has no law against what is commonly called "revenge porn." Thus, from a legal point of view, no crime has been done, and Konan will likely have to address other forms of privacy violations to win the case.
"Revenge porn," or practice of posting erotic photos and video online without a person's consent, and with harmful intent, has become ubiquitous enough that both the US and the EU, as well as many other countries, have officially declared it a criminal offense.
The Federal Communications Decency Act protects search engines from liability over content posted by third parties, according to Aaron Minc, an attorney specializing in online reputation defense.
Search engines "are never going to de-index a word or phrase," Minc said.
"Her name is public. I don't think you have an exclusive right to your name — that sounds like B.S. to me," he added, nonetheless expressing sympathy for the woman.
Minc suggested that a different, more targeted strategy can bring results, in the form of asking search engines to de-index the woman's name from specific porn sites.
Reputation consultant Fisher underscored that all three websites already have mechanisms to remove "revenge porn," and the lawsuit is unlikely to provide a groundbreaking ruling. The suit, he opined, will rather force companies to properly carry out the promise they made.
