A website that asks users to rate Swedish teenage girls as either “ugly” or “hot” has been reported to the police. The images of the girls, most of who were between 16 and 18 years old, were pinched without permission from their Facebook accounts.
Apparently inspired by a scene from newly released Facebook film, The Social Network, the site presents users with pictures of two girls before asking them to decide which one is more attractive. Those who receive the most votes are assigned to the “Hot List” while those with the least are relegated to the “Ugly List”.
Acknowledging that the images were being used without the owners’ consent, a message on the website reads: “You don’t want to be included? Too bad. Sue us!” The site went up on Wednesday, November 10, but had already been removed two days later.
Anders Ahlqvist, from the National Bureau of Investigation’s IT-crime department, said the site was violating the law governing the use of personal information in Sweden. “Copying pictures from a Facebook account and then publishing them somewhere else without that person’s permission is against the law,” Ahlqvist said in a report by The Local. He added that either the site’s creator or its hosts probably deleted it after the controversy was reported in the national media.
One 17-year-old from Boras who ended up on the “Ugly List”, told Boras Tidning newspaper, “It really hurt and it feels like this is something that will follow me for a long time. I don’t want to go to class and show myself and think about all the guys who could have sat in the computer lab and clicked on me.”
In an interview with The Local, Maria Gustafsson, who is a head teacher at one of several Boras schools with students who were rated on the site, said she has filed a report with the police and an investigation is now underway. Possible charges include breach of the personal data act, harassment and defamation.