During Labor Day
weekend, stories of leaked nude photos of female celebrities circulated on the
Internet. Women included in this subject of conversation were Jennifer
Lawrence, Kirsten Dunst, Kate Upton and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. The photos
were presumably obtained by hacking the celebrities’ iCloud accounts.
It did not take
long for the stolen images to spread across the Internet and for the personal
attacks on the victims to begin. Many Twitter users personally addressed these
celebrities, suggesting they do not take nude photos if they have no intention
of having them seen by the public.
I am often
disgusted with our culture today. Female celebrity bodies are not public
domain, contrary to what the mass media believes. I do not personally agree
with their decision to take these photos, but I also believe they have a right
to privacy. If they want to take these intimate photos, it is their decision and they
should not be scandalized and violated due to this decision.
As a celebrity,
these women should expect their privacy will not be respected. If you do not
want the photos to be circulated, then do not take them. Yes, they deserve
privacy and deserve to make their own decisions; regardless, they are in the
limelight 24/7 whether they like it or not.
Instead of
blaming Apple for the targeted celebrities’ iCloud accounts, blame the source
of the attacks. Apple is currently working with law enforcement to investigate
these attacks and determine the source.
“We
have discovered that certain celebrity accounts were compromised by a very
targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions, a practice
that has become all too common on the Internet. None of the cases we have
investigated has resulted from any breach in any of Apple’s systems including
iCloud or Find my iPhone.” –Apple
The targeted
celebrity attacks did not stem from any system breach on Apple’s part. I do
feel bad that these women were scandalized and mortified after their nude
photos were plastered on the Internet, but this was a targeted attack.
Celebrity women know their privacy is not respected. As unfortunate as this is,
they need to take preventative measures to ensure these kinds of photos are not
stolen and shared. They need to either not take these photos or expect them to
circulate in the mass media. As unfortunate as this is, our culture today does
not care about the privacy rights of celebrities.
Hannah, it is interesting to hear about the dark side to technology. We are always ranting about how great social media and the Internet is, but we forget about what we give up to have that technology. We are losing our privacy, communication skill, and patience. We risk a lot every day when we open a new account, but we all seem to live without fear on the Web.
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