Media investigation Numerama On Monday, January 29, a behind-the-scenes look at the new phenomenon, voyeur site Vinted, revealed hundreds of screenshots of sellers.
A vestige of the Internet’s early days, the teenage hotspots of the 2000s, forums have seemed on the brink of extinction for at least a decade. But that counted for those who have for several years already created specialized sites where they exchange photos posted by sellers on Vinted. Investigation Numerama, This Monday, January 29, saw the light of this practice, which oscillates between voyeurism and criminality.
Mechanical
The now commonplace gesture of posting an ad on an online used clothing site can turn out to be a nightmare for many users. When parting with old things, it is customary to display them better, to post a photo of you wearing them. Without showing your face, you emphasize jeans, dresses, shorts or swimsuits. It is at this moment that the perverse mechanism is triggered. Men spend hours poring over bills looking for a little visible skin or tight clothing. Some even go so far as to send messages, mostly sexual, to sellers through the app’s messaging system. What can be harassment? I put a swimsuit on sale for 8 euros, and a guy offered me 150 euros if I would spend the night in the swimsuit before I sent it to him. Numerama victim of these cyber aggressors.
Suspicious titles
As a group effect, this phenomenon has grown to such an extent that discussion groups dedicated to the publication of these stolen photos have been created in public forums. Agreed Numerama, there are even categories; Men of all ages categorize screenshots by body part shown: “butt,” [vêtements] “tights”, “nipples” or even “dresses” are the main sections. It is not uncommon for these photos to be shared hundreds or even thousands of times, making their destruction de facto impossible.
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AI:
We know that artificial intelligence is at the heart of a technological revolution that promises to shake up our world. But like all advances, this one is flawed. Thus, in recent months, requests for women to undress have appeared. blessed bread for wine drinkers. On the site, this time in a completely pornographic way, we can see photos of women “naked” by artificial intelligence through the “Vinted” section. A practice that seems to have had some success. Since October 2023, there have been over 2 million hits, according to SimilarWeb: which analyzes the audience of other websites.
Impunity
While more and more users are demanding accountability from Vinted, which they say is guilty of not moderating these people’s comments and not banning them or reporting them to the authorities in the first place, the website, which was founded in Lithuania in 2008, continues to operate. Their short answer consists of two options. The first is the wait, the processing time for their “file”. Second, we suggest taking legal measures. But investigations are rare. long and complicated, they often lead to nothing. Goodness for these men in the shadows hiding behind their IP addresses.
Source: Le Figaro
