Was it prudent of Jennifer Lawrence to take pictures of herself nude in the first place? Y/N?

[Cronenberg1]

I'm curious if all these people crying "victim blaming" play the same card for Apple. Should we absolve Apple of their responsibility to our privacy on account of the fact that it's "entirely" the fault of the hacker? I don't.

Their nude pictures are not yours. The personal info Apple keeps for you is yours. It is Apples responsibility to keep our info secret, and we have a right to be angry when our info is taken from them. None of these women signed up for this, Apple knows full well what they are signing up for when they take peoples info. If someone came into your house and stole your tv then would it be your fault for having a tv?

 

[Eliam_Dar]

Your question does not have any sense. If she wanted to take nude pictures of herself, it is her choice, and that is it. "Prudent" does not apply here. To be quite honest, I think people is giving this "scandal" more credit that it deserves. Whatever someone does in his private life it is his or her choice, many people act as if they have never seen even themselves naked.

 

[Laughing Man]

No, that would be a suitable analogy to her posting them on a public facebook profile with along with download links.

Yup you're right my analogy was actually pretty poor. I guess what I meant to say was that folk keep saying it was locked up safe and secure which is an utter fallacy, nothing stored online or in the cloud is truly safe that is why your analogy is also very wrong as well. Safety deposit boxes for the most part are incredibly safe given they are usually stored within the vaults of a bank and the logistics of some one person actually breaking in to one is beyond even the most brazen or stupid of criminals.

Like I said it's not her fault for taking the pictures in the first place but it is her fault believing that they would be in anyway secure the second they had ANY contact with the internet but beyond that it isn't her fault that someone did hack in too whatever service was storing them. The thing here is though that when it comes to blame no matter hoow lax the security systems in place are or were no one will blame the provider and will always blame the person that broke in in the first place. The truly ironic thing is that they probably would have been far far safer if they had just remained on her phone or as a hard copy (e.g a polaroid) stored somewhere in her house or for that matter stored in a safety deposit box.

 

[RedDeadFred]

No it was not. And not just because she's a celebrity, but because I don't think it's a good idea for anyone to be putting nudes of themselves onto devices that can connect and upload to the internet. If you REALLY want to take nudes of yourself, do it the old fashioned way, with a camera that that can't directly upload them to the internet. If I did this, my career would be ruined. She should just be happy that seeing actors/actresses is not that uncommon and that this won't hurt her career.

 

[alandavidson]

I'm sorry, for a minute had this really stupid thought that celebrities were people who enjoyed the same rights, freedoms, and expectations as everyone else. Thanks for reminding me that's so far from the truth. What the hell was I thinking?

Whoa what a clever one liner that misses the point entirely. Thanks for reminding me that we can't have a grown up discussion around here. What the hell was I thinking?


I would give you more of an answer and expand on my point about how a celebrity has the same "rights, freedoms and expectations as everyone else" but has a unique standpoint when it comes to risk assessment of taking nude pictures (which is WAY more than your post deserves), but I feel like I would essentially just be repeating myself. Read my original post again.

Oh don't worry, I'll save you the trouble.

Let's say that I have a gold coin. I take the gold coin to a bank, and rent a safe deposit box in their vault. I then place the gold coin in the safe deposit box, and then leave the coin in the trust of the bank. Now we all know that banks hold valuable things such as my gold coin, and that makes them a target for thieves. We also know that banks occasionally are broken into, and those valuable things are stolen. Despite this knowledge, I choose to keep my gold coin in the bank because I trust that the bank has appropriate measures to stop thieves.

I have taken a risk assessment, and decided that I will leave my gold coin in an institution that is already a target because that institution has promised me a reasonable amount of security for my gold coin. In the same way, these women stored their photos and data on the cloud because Apple offered a reasonable amount security. It's easy to look in hindsight and say that they made the wrong choice. But leaks this massive are rare, and with the information that was previously available, it was reasonable for the layman to assume that the cloud had acceptable measures of security.

Risk assessment isn't something that people should have to do when storing photographs. This isn't war, we aren't talking about top secret maps or documents. We aren't analyzing the movements of troops, trying to learn from commander's mistakes. We're looking at people stored photographs on a server they were promised was secure, then fell victim to a creep. Risk or not, this is in no way their fault, just as it isn't the fault of anyone who stores anything in a bank that's robbed.

There. Was that grown-up enough for you?

 

[Erttheking]

It's a lot like the Edward Snowden leaks.

...You're honestly comparing plastering nude photos of a woman all over the internet to a man revealing that the United States government is spying on its citizens?

 

[Robert Marrs]

Not everyone is tech savy enough to know that nothing you involve with the internet is private. I know better than to do something like that unless I would one day be ok with it getting leaked. Jennifer Lawrence probably had no clue this could ever happen. Frankly I don't think its a big deal and I think pretty much everyone that this has happened to has gone about it the wrong way. These pictures will exist eternally now. They will never go away. Best to either embrace it and act like you don't care or just ignore it. Crusading against it or trying to prevent it will just spread it more.

 

[giles]

Oh don't worry, I'll save you the trouble.

Let's say that I have a gold coin. I take the gold coin to a bank, and rent a safe deposit box in their vault. I then place the gold coin in the safe deposit box, and then leave the coin in the trust of the bank. Now we all know that banks hold valuable things such as my gold coin, and that makes them a target for thieves. We also know that banks occasionally are broken into, and those valuable things are stolen. Despite this knowledge, I choose to keep my gold coin in the bank because I trust that the bank has appropriate measures to stop thieves.

I have taken a risk assessment, and decided that I will leave my gold coin in an institution that is already a target because that institution has promised me a reasonable amount of security for my gold coin. In the same way, these women stored their photos and data on the cloud because Apple offered a reasonable amount security. It's easy to look in hindsight and say that they made the wrong choice. But leaks this massive are rare, and with the information that was previously available, it was reasonable for the layman to assume that the cloud had acceptable measures of security.

The other option, having the gold coin somewhere other than a bank, leaves the coin in a place where it is not actually protected by anything other than the fact that you normally wouldn't store it there. Bad analogy either way, because a gold coin has more than fleeting personal value and there is no option to "not having the gold coin".
Having a nude photo of yourself only holds so much "value". You're basically only doing it on a whim. If you are a celebrity you have to weigh that whim against potentially damaging your career.

Risk assessment isn't something that people should have to do when storing photographs. This isn't war, we aren't talking about top secret maps or documents. We aren't analyzing the movements of troops, trying to learn from commander's mistakes. We're looking at people stored photographs on a server they were promised was secure, then fell victim to a creep. Risk or not, this is in no way their fault, just as it isn't the fault of anyone who stores anything in a bank that's robbed.

Like I said I agree this isn't her fault. However, I completely disagree with your first point: Risk assessment is something you should be doing when storing photographs if they are potentially damaging to your career.

A celebrity simply shouldn't rely on the safety of public IT services (especially not fucking Apple). IT security is basically a question of reward vs effort. No system is perfectly safe, the only point is if it's worth the cost of breaching it. This is obvious, really: it's why big celebs live in huge mansions with security and fences, because living in a normal house with an unlocked wooden door really isn't a good idea if you're a lucrative target for robbery or kidnapping.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

I think this victim blaming stuff is good, anyone trying to say a woman dressed to ask for it when they are raped is an awful person for example, but I think it gets in the way of solid advice when taken too far. I'm hoping people learn from this and delete any nude selfies they have and stop creating them. Snapchat is not safe, your hard drive is not safe, your phones storage is not safe pointing this out is not victim blaming it's trying to help people. It's so dangerous to have them and once they are on the internet there's no getting rid of them.

Is it victim blaming to tell children not to get in cars with strangers? Is it victim blaming to say women shouldn't take drinks from out of the hands of strangers at the bar? I had a guy try to mug my friend and I on New Years day(he was unarmed and tiny lol lol) would it be victim blaming to say maybe being in that bad area of town at four in the morning after the nearby pubs shut for the night wasn't a good idea?

When does victim blaming get in the way of good preventative measures?

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

"leaks"

IMHO this word is a pretty shitty choice for the whole debacle and generally shit like this. Sorry dude i quoted, this isnt aimed at you.

Leak implies someone fucked up and left a memory stick in a cafe, or the imformation just fell out of its container and someone found it.

When someone breaks the container to take something that isnt a leak in the container, someone smashed it. It feels more prudent to call them thefts.

"Damn my money leaked from my house" is the same damn thing and its really weird. It implies no one intentionally forced their way in to take it with a purpose, it makes it sound almost accidental. It wasnt. Some guy wanted to wank over some pictures of someone he saw on TV and employed hacking skills so that he and others could wank collectively over the same image of someone who didnt wish to be wanked over.

Sounds a bit more unpleasant when written like that.

 

[V4Viewtiful]

In general, if you take private but exposed footage of yourself that you don't wish others to see, you're quite foolish.

Saying that no ones privacy deserves to be invaded like what has been done.

 

[Suhi89]

Yeah no. She is absolutely within her rights to have taken naked pictures and she should absolutely have the right to expect that any cloud services used are secure.

Houses get broken into all the time. Windows are a known vulnerability. Windows are a convenience, not a necessity in the days of artificial lighting/climate control. Or everyone can have bars over their windows for extra security. Most people don't, and most people wouldn't make the argument that they should have done if their house was burgled.

Or to put it another way, I, and millions others, use online banking and buy things online using credit and debit cards. I know that this involves risks. That doesn't mean I'm wrong to do it or that I'm wrong to expect that my information is safe.

There is a clear hierarchy of responsibility here. At the top is the hacker, who did something highly illegal and immoral. Some way below that is cloud service for not being more secure. JL or any of the other celebrities don't feature in the hierarchy at all, assuming their passwords weren't 123456 or the name of their cat (and even then they're way below the hacker).

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

hmmm, I think it's terrible, but I still looked at hell of a lot of the leaked photos.

I certainly don't think its the celebs fault, these pics were never meant for public consumption.

Although, we live in a world where tabloids/site that proudly display wardrobe malfunctions, up-skirt shots and sneak photos taken with a lens the size of your arm. Those same sites are reporting this as an evil crime, yet they do it repeatedly.

Good Gods! type "selfie" into a porn search engine, and you'll get plenty of naughty shots that women sent to a significant other, only for him (or possibly her) to betray the trust and share the pic. Not much public out cry over that.

I'm not saying that the 2 points above make this ok, I'm saying I'm desensitised to anything like this, we've made it the norm, and only kicking up a stink because its the internet's sweet heart JLaw.

as an aside; I feel sorry for the celebs who choose to keep their private lives private, but would like to say that the fake leaks and sex tapes that have come before, the stories regarding private lives, z-listers giving interviews regarding their love life, them fucks have sold their soul for fame, and don't deserve to complain when the media crosses the line with their privacy.

 

[Drops a Sweet Katana]

She's an adult, she's allowed to take nude pics if she wants. Yeah, she should have been at least expected something like this but it's no one's problem but her own.

 

[Ruisu]

snip

I did put it in commas, so I get it. I do stand by my point about rabid fans and all. Famous people are not really regular people in that regard. Nobody would go out of their way to get nude selfies of randomgal_22.

 

[Lilani]

EDIT: In light of EVERYONE saying I am victim blaming, I have changed the title of the topic to more accurately reflect my view on the matter.

I don't know what your title was originally, but I don't think the current one is any better. "Prudence" doesn't come into it--Jennifer Lawrence took those pictures for private purposes, and held them privately. Nobody has any obligation to be prudent in private, whether they are a celebrity or the most anonymous Jane Doe that's ever existed.

Yes, it never would have happened had she not taken the pictures, but that doesn't mean there was anything inherently wrong with her having them. If you take that logic and apply it to other private things that get stolen or "exposed", it becomes a bit ridiculous: "It wouldn't have been stolen if you didn't have the expensive TV in the first place!" "If you didn't want people to know you have sex toys, then why did you own them in the first place?"

 

[K12]

This sounds like another job for CAPTAIN HINDSIGHT!

 

[The_Scrivener]

I am not victim blaming here. She didn't invite this leak to happen by doing so, but I feel she did expose herself without thinking of the possible consequences. It is a simple thing not to take pictures of yourself and then send them over a network to a phone that could possibly be stolen. Especially considering she's a celebrity and in the United States there is an unhealthy obsession with them in my opinion generally. You can't do things like this as a public figure if only to avoid possibly incriminating yourself.

I close with the following points:
1. She did not invite this invasion of privacy by taking these photographs. No one(save certain situations) has the right to do this kind of thing.
2. I am not blaming her for what happened to her. The one responsible is the asshole that got a hold of them.
3. I am NOT condoning the actions of said asshole.
4. And to all those that downloaded said pictures and use "Well she shouldn't have taken them in the first place.", fuck off that's not the point of the argument to justify your invasion of a woman's privacy.

I do not condone this turn of events and do not blame her for them. I simply feel that if she should not have taken compromising pictures of herself in the first place.

EDIT: In light of EVERYONE saying I am victim blaming, I have changed the title of the topic to more accurately reflect my view on the matter.

Congrats, you've yet another way of providing the hilarious and self-condemning "I'm not racist, but..." phrase.

"I'm not victim blaming, but..." Yes. Yes you are. Suggesting the idea that someone may be in any way accountable for doing what they want with their body and their own property in the privacy of their lives is victim blaming. That's like blaming me for being hit by a drunk driver. I mean, I KNEW it was POSSIBLE that someone drunk could be driving out there...maybe it wasn't prudent to leave my home in a car ever!

 

[StriderShinryu]

In hindsight, it wasn't the smartest move she could have made but it's also something that's basically part of the culture these days. If anything good is to be had from this incident it's that maybe some other girls (and guys, really) will see that even being a celebrity won't protect you from someone misusing something you thought was private.

 

[laggyteabag]

She can do whatever she damn well pleases with her own body. If she wants to take pictures of herself and send them to people who she trusts, she is entirely within her rights to do so. If someone then gets hold of those pictures somehow, and decides to distribute them without permission, that is not her fault, it is the fault of the distributer.