Kevin Christopher Bollaert, 27, pleaded not guilty in a San Diego court on Friday, and is out of custody on $50,000 bail. Bollaert was charged by the District Attorney’s Office last month in connection with a website called "ugotposted.com," which allowed people to publicly create anonymous posts, often using explicit private photographs without their subject's permission. Many of the nude photos were from prior relationships, and some were stolen or obtained by way of hacking.

Bollaert was charged with 31 counts of conspiracy, identity theft and extortion for his commonly referred to “revenge porn” website that was created in December of 2012. It’s been said that the website allegedly earned him tens of thousands of dollars. He also allegedly created a second website called "changemyreputation.com", which was used when people contacted ugotposted.com to request that certain content be removed from the site. Victims were then extorted by receiving emails from a changemyreputation.com email address where Bollaert offered to remove the requested content for a fee ranging anywhere from $300 to $350. According to the attorney general’s office, unnamed co-conspirators had posted 10,170 of these explicit photos during a time frame between December 2, 2012, and September 17, 2012. All of these photos were posted online without the subject's consent. Unlike other revenge porn websites which contain anonymous photos, ugotposted.com required the poster to include the subject's full name, location, age, and Facebook profile link.

It’s illegal under California law, to willfully obtain someone's personal identifying information which includes name, age and address, and is used for any unlawful purpose, including use with the intent to annoy or harass. In October, California Governor Jerry Brown signed a law banning revenge porn. Prosecutors are not charging Bollaert under the new law, as his case predates it.

Judge David Szumowski set a preliminary hearing for March 17th.

While extortion isn’t anything new, the increasing rate of lawsuits related to online extortion activity is alarming in that thousands of people are falling victim to abuse and scare tactics, and are willing to pay the fees to the extortionists out of desperation.