Jennifer Lawrence Kate Upton leaked photos who’s really to blame

Celebrities such as Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, and Mary E. Winstead recently had personal and very risque cell phone photos stolen by hackers.

Cinema news has come to a screeching halt as outlets around the globe have sidelined pertinent film news for TMZ style coverage of celebrity leaked photos. While it may seem hypocritical to condemn outlets for discussing the same subject I am writing about, you have to admit that the subject is not one that can be ignored so if you can’t beat them, I guess you have to join them.

Instead of the trashy norm of providing links to the photos, we would like to ask the question of “Who is really to blame?” But for those who are unfamiliar with the photos at large, here is a quick summation of the events:

Celebrities including Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence were the target of what appears to be one of the biggest celebrity hackings.
 
Dozens of private, nude photographs were said to be accessed from phones and leaked online, reports CBS News correspondent Anthony Mason. The pictures were allegedly taken from a cloud-based Internet data storage system.
 
Posts on the websites 4chan and Reddit said the celebrities were exposed when a hacker broke into their cloud-based storage.
 

[Source: CBS News]

The photos were “stolen” from many celebrities’ Apple iCloud accounts which is an online storage system for Apple users’ personal media items. The hacker who stole the photos accessed these celebrity accounts by exploiting a flaw in the iCloud system which allowed them to hack into a user’s account. Even though the hacker was obviously the instigator in the matter, should Apple’s system have been more secure in order to prevent such attempts? Should Apple have handled user data with more care? Should any of these celebrities taken the photos in the first place using a system that interfaces with online storage? The question is, “Is there one particular person to pinpoint or is there more than one person to blame?”

Who is really to blame?

Navigate to the next pages with the links below to the right…

The Hacker (The obvious choice)

The hacker is obviously one to blame because they are the one/s that have taken the action of stealing the photos. Whether or not their intentions were deliberately vindictive by hoping to harm these celebrities is insignificant. They knowingly committed a crime and should face the consequences for that crime and from the sounds of it, that crime could have the consequence of serious jail time. Not only did they capture adult celebrity photos but they also captured photos of celebrities under the age of 18 which could classify them as a child pornography distributor. It is obvious that the hacker is the first and foremost person of blame regardless of how accessible these photos were.

Apple (The indirect choice)

Apple makes their products geared towards ease of use for the user. They run their products on a very intuitive operating system (OSX) and handle much of the background processes that many computer illiterate people would find confusing on a PC. Those background processes include things such as data management and the recent addition of iCloud backups for certain devices. With that said, there is a certain implied responsibility of Apple to protect their users’ data, especially since the inclusion of the iCloud system.

While an implied responsibility may seem like reason to point a finger, Apple can most likely only be blamed from an ethical perspective rather than a legal perspective. There terms and conditions, you know those things you click accept for without reading, clearly state that they are not responsible for acts such as these. Take a look at the actual verbiage from their iCloud terms and conditions below.

APPLE DOES NOT REPRESENT OR GUARANTEE THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE FREE FROM LOSS, CORRUPTION, ATTACK, VIRUSES, INTERFERENCE, HACKING, OR OTHER SECURITY INTRUSION, AND APPLE DISCLAIMS ANY LIABILITY RELATING THERETO.
 
ANY MATERIAL DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF THE SERVICE IS ACCESSED AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK, AND YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR DEVICE, COMPUTER, OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OF ANY SUCH MATERIAL. YOU FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE SERVICE IS NOT INTENDED OR SUITABLE FOR USE IN SITUATIONS OR ENVIRONMENTS WHERE THE FAILURE OR TIME DELAYS OF, OR ERRORS OR INACCURACIES IN, THE CONTENT, DATA OR INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE SERVICE COULD LEAD TO DEATH, PERSONAL INJURY, OR SEVERE PHYSICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE.
 

[Source: Apple iCloud Terms and Conditions]

Despite Apple’s arguably unethical behavior, they have covered themselves legally through terms and conditions that many of us have already accepted without reading through. Should Apple make it more apparent that your items are being backed up in the cloud? Sure they should, but if they made you aware of every security flaw, they probably wouldn’t hurt their customer base and sales.

The Celebrities Themselves (The Careless Choice)

Am I a minority by believing risque photos should not be taken by WiFi capable devices? Maybe it’s because my day job is that of a Web Developer so I understand the consequences and capabilities of such devices or maybe it’s that I just have a bit of common sense, but why are people taking these photos of themselves in the first place?

Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, Selena Gomez, etc…I feel bad for you, I really do, but why are you taking these photos being public figures that are constantly in the spotlight? We may enjoy your movies but the fact of the matter is that more people are searching for scandalous photos of you rather than your latest blockbuster. Trust me I know, I watch Film Fad’s web stats daily and the search term “Reese Witherspoon Full Frontal” was at the top of our list for quite some time which came from two totally unrelated posts.

The internet is a shark and when you take these photos, you’re just throwing chum into the water. Eventually someone will find these, they will exploit them, and you will act clueless as to how they gained access but the “I didn’t know” argument can only be taken so far. Honestly, has anyone heard of the recent film “Sex Tape?” Even if you know the premise, you should know that outside the comedy of that film, there is an underlying message.

If you wish to maintain a private life as a public figure then you must adhere to rules different than those of the everyday public. Regardless of whether you’re taking photos for your significant other or for yourself, they should not be taken with the mentality of them remaining private. I’m sorry for this happening, I truly am, but I’m also not surprised.