I think it's overly cruel as well, but it's worth noting that this is multiple counts of extortion and has done significant damage to quite a few people's lives.
By bad luck he happened to be the same person who also did something legal that they really didn't like and also something illegal. So his legal actions have caused an excessive sentence for the relatively minor crimes he was actually convicted of.
If embarrassing people was a crime, the ex-partners who gave him the photos would be charged too. Those people are even more at fault than him.
> If embarrassing people was a crime, the ex-partners who gave him the photos would be charged too.
It is a crime (disorderly conduct). See California Penal Code 647(j)(4). California Senate Bill No. 1255 made this into law.
> Any person who intentionally distributes the image of the intimate body part ... under circumstances in which the persons agree or understand that the image shall remain private, the person distributing the image knows or should know that distribution of the image will cause serious emotional distress, and the person depicted suffers that distress.
Convictions for the people who gave him the photos probably won't be news.
He did far more than just "embarrass people". He knowingly and willfully extorted people. He caused major psychological damage. How would you like someone to gather sexual images of you, attempt to extort you to keep them hidden, and then, when you didn't pay up, publish those pictures for the world to see. Would you feel as though you just let out a fart in public, or would it be someone worse?
27 counts of extortion is not a "relatively minor crime".
I feel like we've seen so many (genuine) cases of government overstep that we've been sensitized to see any crime involving the internet as "blown out of proportion." What this guy did was no better than a stereotypical Mafia protection racket.
