Kurt, that footage will never go away

The idea that a celebrity footy player can hope to explicit footage behind him sadly will never happen in today’s online world. NRL player Kurt Capewell has had his name dragged through the online mud as explicit footage of him has re-emerged.

While he admits that eight years ago, when he was 20, he agreed to take part in the filming, he says he was unaware the footage was being shot in a way to suggest he was hooking up with a man.

The story is nothing new. What is new, however, is that this is no longer merely a cautionary tale for celebrities. Exploitative video is rife on the internet, and all of us can be swept up in it, and victimised by it.

Heard of Deep Fakes?

Deep-fake videos manipulate existing footage of a person's face to fit someone else's expressions and voice. A study by Deeptrace found 96 per cent of the 15,000 deep-fake videos online are of women, mostly female celebrities whose face has been mapped onto the body of porn stars. So the celebrities, without their consent, play out people's sexual fantasies.

The idea that fame has a price certainly resonates here. Not only is the footage sold and resold without the celebrity’s consent, the celebrity can be depicted doing anything, anytime, anywhere. Deep-fakes are difficult to spot without specialised equipment. For every person who doesn’t believe it is real footage, there will be another who does.

Visual exploitation online is not just for the famous.

Despite new laws to prevent it, a report to the Criminology Research Advisory Council last year estimates that up to 23 per cent of Australians have experienced some form of image-based abuse with intimate, often sexual, images or videos posted of them online without their consent. That equates to up to 7 million Australians.

A Perth man was the first in Australia to be convicted of distributing a private image of his ex-girlfriend without her consent. He repeatedly created fake Instagram accounts under the name of his ex-girlfriend and posted nude photographs of her on the site. He wasn’t a celebrity, and neither was she. They were an ordinary couple. Sexting and sending nudes is something many couples do, but in the worst-case scenario, when a relationship fades, these abuses increasingly surface in its place.

Can the internet be kinder?

Capewell was quoted saying he wished the internet was a little more responsible and a little bit kinder. Many of us may consider that a very apt point. However, blaming technology will not resolve the use of technology as a sexually exploitative weapon. That’s because it's the way technology is being used that's the problem, and that means the problem is us.

One of the most astounding things about the internet is that it genuinely amplifies the human condition. That can be a good thing, and it’s why many of us are drawn to it. However, it also holds a massive magnifying glass to our vulnerabilities: manipulation, greed, envy, insecurity, anger. These vulnerabilities are not new, but our use of technology and the internet brings them out.

For couples, women, men, teens, or anyone who may use the online platform in a sexual or flirting way, we need to consider the worst-case scenario for the images, comments or videos that we post or send. We must proactively protect ourselves in the short term and long.

Sexual exploitation online is not an easy problem to solve, but neither is it inevitable. Our actions are everything.