Top U.S. government computers have been connecting to an anonymous site that is the epicenter of so-called “revenge porn,” the Daily Beast reported Thursday.
A security analyst obtained the IP addresses connecting to Anon-IB, an image board where users share and request non-consensual nude photos, and found that several addresses were assigned to government computers in U.S. Senate, the Navy and government agencies including the Department of Energy and the Executive Office of the President.
“Looking for wins of [redacted]. She used to send nudes to my friend all of the time. Would love to see some more,” wrote someone connecting from a Senate IP address last August.
“Girl I know from [location redacted]. She was a [college redacted] and has the best tits I’ve ever seen,” another message from the Senate IP address says. “I would love to find some wins.”
Reports the Daily Beast:
“Whoever is connecting from the Senate appears to have a particular focus on Anon-IB’s so-called Xray section, where users post photos so others can alter the image to make the women appear naked or wearing more revealing clothes, with several Xray posts linked to the Senate. Other posts asked for help from other Anon-IB members editing a photo in this way, including one of a girl the poster says they went to college with. In another message, someone connecting from the Senate shared an image of a model, and identified where they allegedly went to college, likely in the hope that others could dig up more images of the woman.”
At least one post is linked to the Executive Office of the President, which includes a number of agencies including the National Security Council and the Office of Science and Technology Policy in addition to the Office of the President. “I have wins if anyone is ready to post. First one is free,” the Anon-IB member writes, naming a woman and sharing an image. Online data suggests that the post came from a computer in the Office of Management and Budget.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has not commented on the findings.
Last year, the U.S. Navy was embroiled in a revenge-porn scandal, in which servicemen shared nonconsensual material on secret Facebook groups. Last November, Senators Kamala Harris (D-CA), Richard Burr (R-NC) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced a bill to address revenge porn. The Ending Nonconsensual Online User Graphic Harassment (ENOUGH) Act would increase federal resources to fight revenge porn and make sharing non-consensual images a federal crime.
