James McGibney is an American entrepreneur and former Marine. He is the CEO and founder of Las Vegas, Nevada based ViaView, Inc., which owns and operates the web sites BullyVille.com, CheaterVille.com, KarmaVille.com, and DramaVille.com.[1][2][3]
James McGibney | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | Boston University |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Known for | CEO and founder of ViaView, Inc., |
Education
editMcGibney earned a master's degree in criminal justice from Boston University.[4]
On August 16, 2021, McGibney earned Harvard University's Cybersecurity Certification: Managing Risk in the Information Age.[5]
McGibney is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Learning Technologies at Pepperdine University.[6]
Career
editMcGibney served in the United States Marine Corps, serving tours of duty with Third Surveillance Reconnaissance Intelligence Group and Marine Security Guard Battalion. He was awarded the Navy Achievement Medal for his service in the US Marines.[7]
After leaving the Marine Corps, McGibney founded SecuraTrak, a satellite-based asset tracking system.[8] McGibney was involved with the first deployment of Cisco UCS blade technology in 2009, while employed as data center lead at general contractor Tutor Perini.[9][10]
In February 2011, McGibney announced the website Cheaterville.com, where anonymous users could post claims of infidelity, alongside names and pictures of those accused.[2][11] He started websites based on similar user participation later in the year, as well as a matchmaking website.[2]
In April 2012, McGibney acquired and shut down revenge porn website Is Anyone Up and redirected traffic to the newly launched Bullyville.com.[3]
In June 2012 he announced he would host his own radio show, VocalVille, on CBS radio station KXNT-FM in Las Vegas.[12]
Since his July 2022 appearance in Netflix documentary, "The Most Hated Man on the Internet", McGibney has become a frequent guest on the Dr. Phil Show and "Phil in The Blanks" podcast as a cybersecurity expert. [13][14]
IsAnyoneUp? controversy
editIn April 2012, McGibney purchased controversial revenge porn[15][16] site Is Anyone Up? from Hunter Moore for US$12,000.[3] Web traffic for the site was redirected to BullyVille.com. This effectively shut down the previous site, which was the stated intent of McGibney.[17][18] Three days after the transaction, Moore used his Twitter account to accuse McGibney of being a pedophile and of possessing child pornography[19] and threatened to rape McGibney's wife.[20] As a result, McGibney sued Moore for defamation in Nevada's Clark County District Court in February 2013.[21] The court entered a default judgment against Moore in the sum of $250,000 plus court costs and attorney fees.[22][23] As of September 2021 the judgment had reached more than $338,000.[24]
In April 2022, a short VICE documentary featuring McGibney detailing his involvement in the events which led up to the 2012 shutdown of revenge porn website Is Anyone Up? was published to YouTube.[25] Moore did not participate.
On July 27, 2022, Netflix released a three-part documentary entitled "The Most Hated Man on the Internet" which featured McGibney describing how he acquired and shut down Is Anyone Up? as well as his interactions with Moore.[26]
Texas SLAPP litigation
editIn December 2015, McGibney was ordered to pay a $1 million Anti-SLAPP court sanction and $300,000 in attorney's fees to Neal Rauhauser for filing a series of baseless lawsuits against him.[27] The decision was believed to be the largest Anti-SLAPP sanction in United States History.[28]
The ruling was temporarily reversed when the presiding judge granted McGibney's request for a new trial in February 2016 but reinstated in favor of Rauhauser on 14 April 2016 with the SLAPP sanction against McGibney reduced from $1 million to $150,000.[29][30] The judge ruled that McGibney had filed the suits to willfully and maliciously injure Rauhauser and to deter him from exercising his constitutional right to criticize McGibney.[27]
McGibney appealed and on April 19, 2018, a three judge panel in the Texas 2nd District Court of Appeals ruled in favor of McGibney, vacating the monetary and non-monetary sanctions findings, and reversing and remanding the amount of attorney's fees awarded in ruling that the trial court had abused its discretion.[31] The appeals court further reversed the finding of "willfully and maliciously", noting that Rauhauser's attorney had engaged in a "troublesome pattern of heavy front-end loading of legal work" in his affidavit which attempted to justify the attorney's fees sought.[32]
On September 28, 2018, the Supreme Court of Texas denied Rauhauser's request for review of 2nd District Court of Appeals' April 2018 decision.[33]
On November 20, 2018, the appellate mandate issued with an additional order that Rauhauser "shall pay all of the costs of this appeal".[34]
References
edit- ^ "James McGibney, Founder Of Cheaterville.Com, Talks Outing Cheaters (VIDEO)". HuffPost Live. 18 December 2012.
- ^ a b c "An Interview with James McGibney, Mayor of Cheaterville". Las Vegas Weekly. 10 June 2011.
- ^ a b c Karlinsky; et al. (22 May 2012). "FBI Investigates 'Revenge Porn' Website Founder". ABC News/Nightline.
- ^ "B.C. resident earns master's degree". Las Vegas Sun. 6 November 2008.
- ^ "HarvardX Cybersecurity Credential Verification". HarvardX. August 16, 2021. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
- ^ Weston, Christopher (2022-07-28). "James McGibney transformed IsAnyoneUp into BullyVille for 'less than $15,000'". HITC. Retrieved 2022-10-07.
- ^ "Executive Profile for James McGibney". Bloomberg Businessweek.[dead link]
- ^ Forster, David (16 July 2000). "Burning smell could be reputation going up in smoke". Sacramento Business Journal.
- ^ "Tutor Perini Changes DC Economics (video)" (Press release). Cisco Systems, Inc. 2009.
- ^ "Tutor Perini Deploys Cisco's Unified Computing System for Data Center Consolidation" (Press release). Cisco Systems, Inc. 1 September 2009. Archived from the original on 25 June 2012.
- ^ Cheaterville (Radio broadcast). KPNR, Nevada. 6 June 2011.
- ^ "Founder Of "The Villes" Launching VocalVille Radio Program On CBS 100.5 FM In Las Vegas" (Press release). VocalVille. 4 June 2012.
- ^ "James McGibney". IMDb. Retrieved 2023-01-17.
- ^ "Podcast Episodes". Phil in the Blanks. Retrieved 2023-01-17.
- ^ Dodero, Camille (4 April 2012). "Hunter Moore Makes a Living Screwing You". Runnin' Scared (newsblog). The Village Voice.
- ^ Hess, Amanda (5 December 2012). "Hunter Moore's Biggest Fan". The XX Factor. Slate.
- ^ Dodero, Camille (19 April 2012). "Bullyville Has Taken Over Hunter Moore's Is Anyone Up? (Updated)". Runnin' Scared (newsblog). Village Voice.
- ^ Karlinsky; et al. (19 April 2012). "Anti-Bullying Website Takes Over, Shuts Down 'Revenge Porn' Website". ABC News/Nightline.
- ^ Alfonso III, Fernando (11 March 2013). "Revenge porn king Hunter Moore fined $250,000 in defamation suit". Daily Dot.
- ^ Matisse, Nathan (10 March 2013). "Revenge porn site founder loses $250k defamation suit". Ars Technica.
- ^ Poeter, Damon (11 March 2013). "Revenge Porn King Hunter Moore Ordered to Pay $250K for Defamation". pcmag.com.
- ^ Lee, Dave (11 March 2013). "'Revenge porn' site owner Hunter Moore sued for defamation". BBC.
- ^ Roy, Jessica (2013-03-09). "Bullyville Founder Wins $250,000 in Defamation Case Against Revenge Porn King Hunter Moore". Observer. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
- ^ "Eighth Judicial District Court Records Inquiry". Clark County Courts. Retrieved 2021-09-29.[clarification needed]
- ^ Bringing Down the Revenge Porn King | Fakes, Frauds & Scammers, retrieved 2022-06-01
- ^ "Here Are the People Who Took Down The Most Hated Man on the Internet". Netflix Tudum. Retrieved 2022-08-17.
- ^ a b Lee, David. "$1.3 Million in Anti-SLAPP Sanctions". Courthouse News Service. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
- ^ Lee, David (January 15, 2016). "$1.3 Million in Anti-SLAPP Sanctions". Courthouse News. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
- ^ Lee, David (29 February 2016). "$1.3 Million Anti-SLAPP Award Rescinded". Courthousenews.com. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
- ^ "Hanszen Laporte Wins $450,000 Against Plaintiffs Who Filed Baseless Defamation Suits" (PDF). Hanszen LaPorte. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 December 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
- ^ "Counsel Fees, Sanctions Nixed in Anti-SLAPP Action Against Website Operator | Texas Lawyer". Texas Lawyer. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
- ^ "Texas Court Axes Online Harassment Case $300K Fee Award - Law360". www.law360.com. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
- ^ "Orders On Petitions For Review". Texas Judicial Branch - Supreme Court. September 28, 2018. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
- ^ "James McGibney and ViaView, Inc. v. Neal Rauhauser: Mandate". Texas Judicial Branch - 2nd Court of Appeals. Retrieved August 30, 2021.