Sick porn geeks are paying for ‘3D virtual sex avatars’ of Emilia Clarke, Emma Watson and even their ex-girlfriends
SICKOS are creating realistic 3D models of celebs and their exes so they can romp with them in virtual reality.
The disturbing porn flicks are made using special software and shared or sold online to thousands of randy geeks.
A booming marketplace for 3D models of celebs like Emma Watson and Emilia Clarke was uncovered by a recent Motherboard .
Specialised 3D-rendering software is used to create them by uploading hundreds or thousands of pictures of the victim.
They're then sold on sites like Reddit and crowdfunding platform Patreon. Users can watch them through a virtual reality headset.
A high-tech sex toy such as the Fleshlight Launch then strokes the user's penis in time with the action.
Sex-crazed basement-dwellers frequently boast about how the tech has let them act out their fantasies.
"I use it to fulfil my sexual fantasies or replicate sexual encounters with my ex-girlfriends," one user commented on Reddit.
"It has enabled me to literally feel like I'm there again ... the possibilities are endless."
Celebs are by far the biggest market, with dozens of high-quality 3D models uncovered by investigators.
A-list stars like Emilia Clarke, Natalie Portman, Emma Watson, and Nicki Minaj feature, often under fake names for legal reasons.
People who create the models, using software like Virt-A-Mate and Foto2vam, charge anything from £1 to £100 a month for access to their builds.
They told Motherboard the tech was simply a harmless way for customers to act out their desires, they said.
However, experts warned of legal and ethical issues around pornography – real or not – starring somebody without their consent.
What is VR? Virtual reality explained
Here's what you need to know about the revolutionary tech...
- Virtual reality allows you to experience and interact with a 3D world that isn't real.
- To enter this virtual world you must don a VR helmet – a headset with a screen inside that makes you feel like you're somewhere else.
- This mounted display strapped to your eyes mixed with stereo sound and movement tracking lets you explore this immersive virtual world.
- You turn your head and the environemnt turns with you, making the illusion feel even more "real".
- Currently headsets span from expensive PC-linked helmets like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift to more affordable goggles like the Samsung Gear VR that works by slotting a smartphone in the headset.
- The downloadable apps range from VR games to 360-degree videos created by publishers like the BBC and The Discovery Channel.
- They can transport you to 3D worlds that aren't accessible in real life, like a trip to Mars or a spin behind the wheel of a futuristic sports car.
- Until recently, these experiences relied on a PC or smartphone to generate this virtual world.
- But there are alternatives– like the Oculus Go, a wireless headset with a built-in processor that does all the work itself.
"Is this something the other person wants? Is it mutually desirable/pleasurable?" National University of Ireland Galway legal expert John Danaher told Motherboard.
"I don’t think anyone should be creating representations of this sort without the consent of the real person."
The legal implications for creating such models are murky.
In the United States, celebrities have the power to fight back against someone creating 3D porn using their likeness by invoking rights of publicity.
However, Britain lacks any concrete rules on it. Even for those with the ability to take legal action, the burden of entering multiple messy lawsuits weighs heavily.
"They have legal ability to challenge that, but we have to recognise that is quite burdensome," Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the chief operating officer and general counsel for the actors' union SAG-AFTRA, told Motherboard.
"They have to hire a lawyer, file a lawsuit, and if the performer has to spend $10,000 to file a lawsuit against each person who used their likeness, that's not the most effective way to address it."
It's not the first time controversial pornographic tech has hit headlines in recent months.
"Deepfake" technology, which uses AI to create fake videos of people based on their likeness, has also stirred worries among experts.
Deepfake pornographic videos that have surfaced already "feature" stars such as Scarlett Johansson and Jennifer Aniston.
There are also many deepfake videos that aren't porn but which show famous faces such as Donald Trump, Barack Obama and Mark Zuckerberg conversing in a convincing manner even though it isn't really them.
Soon, the technology will be so good that general members of the public will regularly feature.
One expert warned in August that deepfake porn could be as easy to create as using an Instagram filter in the near future.
Deepfakes – what are they, and how does it work?
Here's what you need to know...
- Deepfakes is a downloadable app that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to produce face-swapped pornos with barely any effort
- To create the videos, users first track down an XXX clip featuring a porn star that looks like an actress
- They then feed an app with hundreds – and sometimes thousands – of photos of the victim's face
- A machine learning algorithm swaps out the faces frame-by-frame until it spits out a realistic, but fake, sex tape
- To help other users create these videos, pervs upload "facesets", which are huge computer folders filled with a celebrity's face that can be easily fed through the "deepfakes" app
- Simon Miles, of intellectual property specialists Edwin Coe, told The Sun that the fake sex tapes could be considered an "unlawful intrusion" into the privacy of a celeb
- He also added that celebrities could request that the content be taken down, but warned: "The difficulty is that damage has already been done
Shamir Allibhai, the CEO of video verification company Amber, said: "It will soon be as easy to create a fake as it is to add an Instagram filter and women will be the primary target of the weaponisation of this deepfake technology.
"The havoc is two-fold. At a primary level, relationships will be broken, people will be blackmailed."
He added: "On a deeper level, society will become cynical if we don’t have video veracity solutions in effect.
"We will evolve to become distrusting and view everything with skepticism."
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In other news, randy men are renting used love dolls from a sex robot "takeaway service" that delivers to your door.
Last year, The Sun exclusively revealed how one sex-bot collector had spent $200,000 on love dolls – which he keeps in a cupboard.
And, a porn star has undergone numerous surgeries to transform herself into a "living sex doll".
What's your opinion on VR porn? Let us know in the comments...
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