A website that has been posting photos of teenage girls and asking users to rate their physical appearance has been taken down as York Regional Police continue to investigate. The site appears to have been taken down Wednesday night, but it's unclear who is behind the site and who took it offline. Grade 12 students CTV News spoke to on Thursday say there are disgusted and violated about learning about the website. “I just feel like I want to take the top layer of my skin off, I feel disgusting and dirty,” said one student. The website, which first popped up last Thursday, features photos of more than 50 female students at Sacred Heart Catholic High School in Newmarket. The teen photos were rated on whether the respondent wanted to have sex with them. “I felt nauseous, no one deserves this and no one deserves to be looked at as a percentage,” says another student Sacred Heart’s principal says they don’t know who is behind this form of cyber bullying and want to get to the bottom of it. “We take the security of our staff and students very seriously,” says Sacred Heart principal John Heinrich. The school reported the website to York Regional Police after students complained. Police have launched an investigation and say charges could be laid. “It is under investigation by our criminal investigations bureau and there could conceivably be charges. It could be a case of criminal harassment or threatening in nature but we haven’t come across that yet,” says York Regional Police Const. Andy Pattenden. Police say the pictures were taken from Facebook accounts that were open and are asking students to take appropriate security measures to protect their online accounts. “The person who did this didn’t take these photos in a malicious way even though the end result was malicious. So lockdown your photos and don’t post anything that could get into the wrong hands,” add Const. Pattenden. Back at Sacred Heart students have taken matters into their own hands and are trying to send a positive message. The students have covered the school halls with six different posters promoting equality and respect for women. “A lot of the guys don’t understand why it’s a big deal to us and they need to be educated and see our point of views,” says one female student. Since the school learned about the website guidance councillors have been meeting with the students whose photos were posted on the site and are making sure they are ok and helping them deal with the situation.
