Targets of a man\u2019s deepfake exploitation campaign preying on women and girls, including a 13-year-old child, will not let the vile acts stand in the way of life, a court has been told.<\/p>\n
At the beginning of his Brisbane District Court trial in August, Antonio Rotondo pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of stalking, five counts of distributing intimate images and one count of distributing child exploitation material relating to a 13-year-old girl. <\/p>\n
In a matter of hours, a jury found him guilty on all fronts. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m scared of a future where deepfake pornography is normalised for myself, for my daughters and for girls and women more broadly,\u201d one of Rotondo\u2019s 17 victims wrote to the court at his sentencing. <\/p>\n
\u201cI do not want women to respond to this technology by disappearing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWomen and girls should not have to share less, dress differently, avoid photographs or withdraw from public life in order to protect themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the trial, the court was told the now convicted child sex offender targeted women and teenage girls, using image manipulator software to alter photos of his victims, removing their clothes or replacing them with lingerie. <\/p>\n
Among his victims were Brisbane Fashion Week models and staff and students from an elite private girls\u2019 school.<\/p>\n
His youngest victim was just 13 years old.<\/p>\n
Many of the victims said the photographs Rotondo exploited commemorated special moments from schooling milestones, spiritual events and career highlights.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy heart breaks to think that this has happened to many other girls,\u201d one girl told the court in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t deserve this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rotondo emailed the insidious images to Brisbane Fashion Week organisers, the girls\u2019 school and private boys\u2019 schools including Brisbane Grammar School and St Joseph\u2019s Gregory Terrace. <\/p>\n
He published a large swathe of the images online, with many of his victims expressing fear over how widely shared the false depictions had become. <\/p>\n
Many of the women and girls told the court they felt \u201chumiliated, violated, powerless\u201d by Rotondo and had struggled with ongoing mental health and social struggles.<\/p>\n
Some victims said they began self-censoring after being told of the images.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe experience violated my dignity and my sense of personal safety,\u201d one victim wrote to the court.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had no control over who has access to it or how it might be used.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rotondo told police, in an interview played to the court at trial, his conduct should be expected in the modern age.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom a practical point of view you cannot stop deepfakes. Everyone should live in fear of deepfakes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery woman on Earth should live in fear of a camera, live in fear of Facebook. There will be nude images of everyone on the internet or mobile devices.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s fun to just press a button and remove their clothes. It\u2019s like X-ray vision glasses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crown prosecutor Ben Jackson at the sentencing said intimate deepfake crime was rising.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt could be said what was a trickle (at the time of Rotondo\u2019s arrest) is slowly becoming a flood,\u201d Mr Jackson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is frightening, which is what Mr Rotondo said himself to police, is how easy it is to do \u2026 how many programs there are \u2026 how easy it is to on-send them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a fear that many in the community have.\u201d<\/p>\n
At sentencing, Rotondo, representing himself, argued perceived inaccuracies and contradictions within his trial, at one point wrongly referring to the Queensland Human Rights Act 2019.<\/p>\n
Judge John Allen KC lambasted Rotondo for his callous remarks and insensitivity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat has become demonstrably clear \u2013 you have absolutely no insight into the seriousness of your offending,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have no empathy for the victims of your offending.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have no remorse whatsoever for your offending.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t take much to attach (deepfake images) to an email or post them to a Facebook gallery, but as can be seen, the consequences of those easy and quick actions can be profound and long lasting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rotondo was sentenced to two years imprisonment and granted immediate parole with two years of presentence custody declared time served. <\/p>\n