The internet is a fascinating construct where information, entertainment, and commerce overlap in ways previously thought impossible by human society. We have come to rely on the internet for some of the most important parts of life, including paying for essentials and storing private information. There is something for everyone on the internet, and most services offer online equivalents to maximize convenience.
These wonders available on the internet have made it one of the most important resources in modern society, but there is a dark side. Some parts of the internet offer certain unsavory products and services that border on dangerous for certain demographics. The most notable of these less family-friendly services is the pornographic industry.
While most pornographic websites are regulated and employ professional services, other websites share more sensitive content. Namely, the website Anon-IB has created a platform where millions of users can publicly post explicit images without compromising their identities.
Unfortunately, there are not many restrictions for these websites due to the complexities of internet law. Because of these lax restrictions, it is possible for images you shared privately to appear on a website like Anon-IB for the rest of the internet to see. Aside from the privacy violation, this can seriously damage your reputation when these images appear. Therefore, you must remove those images as soon as possible to minimize the fallout.
What is Anon-IB?
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of pornographic websites that offer unique content people are interested in consuming. Most of these websites offer legitimate images and videos of paid professionals with a licensed filming crew and consent forms. Unfortunately, Anon-IB is the opposite of these legitimate websites and is little more than a message exchange board modeled after the infamous 4chan site.
Anon-IB is marketed as an anonymous image board hosting website where users can post explicit images without exposing their identities. While this is theoretically harmless, the users of Anon-IB seldom post photos of themselves and instead use Anon-IB as a platform to victimize others.
The most common behavior seen on Anon-IB is sharing “wins.” This refers to posting images of previous or current sexual partners to display trophies. In addition to being morally objectionable, this practice is technically illegal since the images are usually posted without the subject’s consent. Unfortunately, this is not the worst behavior observed in Anon-IB’s domain.
Anon-IB is used as a revenge porn website where angry users can post sexually explicit content about people they dislike. This phenomenon has become a major issue, and Anon-IB has a checkered history of enabling misconduct from its users. Anon-IB’s users have also engaged in despicable practices like distributing child pornography for other users to consume.
These behaviors range from despicable to horrifying, which begs why such a website has been allowed to remain active. The original Anon-IB was shut down because of these practices following a federal raid on the website’s servers. Unfortunately, Anon-IB has returned with a vengeance due to its status as an anonymous website and the fact it is exempt from most national laws due to its nature as a foreign domain. The original Anon-IB was based in Russia, and the current iteration is Albanian.
While child pornography is thankfully less common in Anon-IB’s domain, thanks to reporting services, the issue of revenge porn remains a constant threat. Unfortunately, revenge porn is more complicated than you might expect and can affect virtually everyone.
What is Revenge Porn?
The term “revenge porn” might evoke images from crime drama shows, but it is a real issue that affects people worldwide. It is no secret that people have been known to capture explicit images to share with intimate partners. This practice, colloquially known as “sexting,” is usually exclusive to couples or people with a pre-existing sexual arrangement. Providing our partners with intimate images of ourselves requires trust because we generate an extremely sensitive image that could impact the public’s perception of us if it were ever publicized. Unfortunately, not everyone who receives these intimate photos respects the importance of what they have and how it impacts the photo’s subject.
Someone who lacks respect for their partner’s privacy might turn a gift into a weapon if the relationship sours. Sometimes, people feel personally offended by a breakup when the decision is unilateral rather than mutual. These individuals who view breakups as a blow to their ego are liable to post the images and videos given to them in confidence to hurt their ex. Alternatively, they might view the image or video as a trophy and something they have the right to brag about to their peers. In this case, they might post the images online to prove their conquests for clout despite its ramifications on the image’s subject.
Either way, revenge porn victimizes the people who share their most intimate moments with their partners. Revenge porn, as of 2022, is a federal offense and yields significant punishment for the perpetrators when the claims stick. Originally, revenge porn was regulated by state law, and the punishment varied due to First Amendment protections. Generally, revenge porn led to fines and possible imprisonment in county jail. The federal punishments will likely be similar though it is still being sorted out in Congress.
While revenge porn can be posted on virtually any online platform or text blast, Anon-IB has become a haven for revenge porn. Unfortunately, this might be a problem for people with no previous experience with revenge porn and could impact you in ways you never expected.
How Does Anon-IB Affect You?
Unfortunately, there is a stigma associated with providing sexually explicit imagery or photographs. Even more unfortunate is that this stigma disproportionately affects women more than men. People whose sexually explicit images are posted online are viewed with a critical lens and usually assigned demeaning labels like “slut.” Even if the image was shared with someone you are supposed to trust or with whom you have a pre-existing romantic or sexual relationship, you are still labeled derogatorily when the images become public.
This is because there is still an underlying disdain for publicized sexual activity, and the idea that such images of you exist is misattributed to irresponsible or promiscuous behavior. If the issues ended with a few derogatory terms, revenge porn might not be as serious. Unfortunately, compromising images and the labels that come with them profoundly affect your standing in society.
When intimate images of you are posted publicly, people will use that to question your judgment and view you as promiscuous. While this is not inherently damaging, the more people believe, the more widespread the belief becomes. Regardless of whether the photos were given to a single partner, your images being circulated publicly makes you seem unprofessional or untrustworthy. At best, you are viewed as an online sex worker; at worst, you do not care who sees you in sexually explicit positions. This can be detrimental to your social and professional standing.
People are less willing to interact with someone who is sexually promiscuous because the more puritan members of society view such behavior as beneath them. It also means people who follow you on social media will assume you provide images and videos of this nature as a career. This could cause you to develop a reputation as an online sex worker when you have no association with the field. This generates a reputation among your social circle that might harm your ability to make friends and form romantic relationships.
Additionally, these images and videos severely impact your ability to seek gainful employment because abundant sexual images are viewed as unprofessional. When these images are made public, they will almost certainly appear in a background check conducted during job interviews. When a potential employer identifies sexually explicit images or videos of a prospective employee, it tends to sour their perception of you. They might view you as a liability to their corporate image and cause the derisive view of promiscuity to be attributed to their product.
If you are already employed with or lead the business, the same issues will affect your position and the business’s reputation. Existing and prospective customers will assume the company espouses the idea that such images are acceptable in “civilized society.” Essentially, someone else posting your intimate images has ramifications for you and your professional associates because people are too happy to connect the two events even when the accusation is baseless. As a result, you need to remove your images and videos from websites like Anon-IB so there are no effects on your personal or professional reputation.
How to Remove Your Information
Removing personal information from websites is a common practice due to the large number of data broker websites designed to give out your information. These websites generally offer services to request information takedowns if you want to maintain your privacy or feel like that information could put you at risk if it remains public. Most of these sites tend to make the removal process difficult to minimize the loss of data that provides business.
Ultimately, these sites provide a method to remove our information from data broker sites. Unfortunately, Anon-IB is not a data broker website and operates with questionable legality at best. Currently, the website lacks any form of takedown request page and provides a fairly hostile ‘Contact Us’ page. When you access the contact information, they only provide an e-mail address rather than a phone number, address, or integrated communication system.
If you want to try contacting them via e-mail, the address is ibcontact@dnmx.org.
The results will likely be poor since Anon-IB has a reputation for ignoring people’s communications or outright refusing to remove the content. This means most people are left waiting for a response to an e-mail for weeks while the image remains readily available. When you do get an answer, it will likely be to tell you that they will not remove the content. The only other alternative is to report the post as a form of abuse to the following link: http://www.anonib.com/abuse.php, and hope that the report is sufficient for Anon-IB to look into deleting the content.
Unfortunately, it falls to the website’s administrators to decide whether a post on their domain constitutes abuse, and the criminal activity that plagued the original makes it unlikely they will act in your favor. You might have to take things a step further and retain the services of a professional group to pull the content from Anon-IB’s website on your behalf.
Usually, a firm or law enforcement team has a better success rate in having content removed from websites like Anon-IB. When faced with more aggressive opposition, the websites tend to acquiesce to avoid a drawn-out conflict over what they perceive to be an inconsequential post. The question is: what kind of service should you retain to combat Anon-IB?
Take Your Reputation Back!
Anon-IB is an insult to internet discourse and only serves as an environment where the most juvenile and despicable individuals can post harmful images. The website was already taken down once, but its unfortunate resurrection has made it easier for people to post revenge porn. These posts can damage your reputation, but the worst part is that it takes your private images and turns them into a public show.
This endangers the subjects in the photos and promotes disgusting and predatory behavior from the lesser members of the human race. Combatting Anon-IB’s content usually requires reinforcements, and it might surprise you to learn reputation management firms are effective.
We at Reputation realize the damage revenge porn can inflict on your safety and reputation, and we recognize Anon-IB’s fault. We have gone up against Anon-IB before and helped remove compromising images and videos from their domain for clients. We will happily extend that service to you and help purge whatever is hosted on their domain. If your private images are being distributed on Anon-IB’s webpage, we urge you to visit our website and let us assist you in having them removed. Let us help you take your reputation back!
