By now, everyone’s familiar with the nude photograph leak of various celebrities like Kate Upton and Jennifer Lawrence.
It should be obvious that whoever was responsible for obtaining the private photos and disseminating them on the internet is not only a creep but a criminal who will hopefully be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Furthermore, anyone who views the pictures is complicit in the violation of these women’s privacy. Without an audience, there’s little need to post them to the Internet.
It’s important to understand that these photos were not meant to be shared with the world and should not be treated the same way as professional pornography with paid models who are well aware their pictures will be spread around the world.
With that being said, perhaps now is a good time for us as a generation to reconsider our approach to Internet privacy.
The images were supposedly obtained due to someone bypassing the security features of Apple iCloud.
Unfortunately, the victimized celebs thought that a supposedly secure network was all that was needed to protect their privacy from Internet predators.
In a day and age when the federal government can’t even protect classified intelligence documents from the hackers at Wikileaks, should we expect better security for our personal information?
The myth of online privacy needs to be smashed, and perhaps this unfortunate leak will be the catalyst for a change in our behavior as Internet users.
Posting something on the internet is an inherently public act, no matter how many passwords you have to enter to access it, and the assumption that every action you take online can be viewed by the worst elements of 4chan and Anonymous is perhaps a bit of healthy paranoia.
Just because people shouldn’t hack your private internet accounts doesn’t mean they won’t, so keep that in mind the next time you send that Snapchat.