Earlier this week, private pictures of Kristen Stewart, Miley Cyrus, Lindsey Vonn and Tiger Woods, were leaked to a website. Some of them are already looking for legal action against the invasion.
This leak comes as the latest privacy invasion for celebrities, that has already target Selena Gomez, Cara Delevigne, Kirsten Dunst, Kate Upton and Jennifer Lawrence.
Celebrity hacking, once again
Three years after Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton were among the victims of an iCloud hacking dubbed the “Fappening” and “Celebgate,” a new host of A-list stars seem to be finding their privacy being violated. Personal photos allegedly belonging to them, showing them nude or in sexually explicit situations, have been splashed across the internet.
The victims include Tiger Woods, Kristen Stewart, Miley Cyrus, Olympic skier Lyndsey Vonn, Victoria’s Secret Angel Stella Maxwell, and Katherine McPhee.
The private pictures of celebrities were leaked once again. They were posted on a porn website identified as Celebrity Jihad.
Celebrity Jihad, which boasts the tagline “explosive celebrity gossip from Islamic extremists,” ran the graphic photos, which were reportedly stolen from stars’ phones.
The website is notorious for previous breaches of privacy. In fact, it was there where pictures of the 2014 celebrity hacking were posted.
According to TMZ, McPhee and Stewart’s lawyers also have threatened to sue the website if it doesn’t remove photos of the stars immediately.
Exes Vonn and Woods, whose pictures are reportedly from when they dated, have both vowed legal action.
“We have issued takedown notices to various websites who have posted the illegally hacked photos of our clients. Almost all sites have complied or will comply with our demand,” said Attorney Michael Holtz, acting on behalf of Vonn and Woods.
In a statement issued Tuesday, a spokesman for Vonn said,
“It’s an outrageous and despicable invasion of privacy for anyone to steal and illegally publish private, intimate photos. Lindsey will take all necessary and appropriate legal action to protect and enforce her rights and interests.”
The Fappening or Celebgate
In August 2014, approximately 500 photos of sexually explicit in nature were stolen. Most of them belonging to stars. Lawrence, Upton, Kaley Cuoco, Kirsten Dunst, Victoria Justice, Ariana Grande, and Jessica Brown Findlay were posted on 4chan and quickly spread across the internet.
Jennifer Lawrence spoke out about being victimized soon after in an interview with Vanity Fair, calling it a “sex crime” and saying,
“I think people saw (the hacking) for what it was, which was a sex crime. But that feeling, I haven’t been able to get rid of it. Having your privacy violated constantly isn’t a problem if you’re perfect,” she said.
“I can’t even describe to anybody what it feels like to have my naked body shoot across the world like a news flash against my will. It just makes me feel like a piece of meat that’s being passed around for a profit.”
In March 2016, Ryan Collins, a 36-year-old from Lancaster, Pa., pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information. It resulted in an 18-month sentence stemming from the case.
Nearly a year later, in January 2017, Edward Majerczyk, a 28-year-old from Chicago working independently of Collins, also pleaded guilty to a similar phishing scheme. Majerczyk did not post the photos online, but he was sentenced to nine months in prison.
While the Fappening shook news and the celebrity world, the hacking of private pictures has become more and more usual but it dates from way back.
A man was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2012 after hacking into Scarlett Johansson’s and Mila Kunis’s private online accounts and posting their photos online.
Nonstopping hacking
This latest incident comes in the wake of another celebrity hacking. Last week, private pictures of Anne Hathaway were hacked and leaked to websites, including Celeb Jihad and 4chain.
In March, Emma Watson announced she was taking legal action over the publication of private photos her reps say were stolen. The photos, which showed Watson undressing during a fitting, were leaked on 4chan.
Also leaked in March, were pictures of actress Amanda Seyfried, in several states of nudity or in intimate moments with her former boyfriend.
In December, ‘Pretty Little Liars‘ actress Lucy Hale spoke out against a topless photo that was leaked.
“Once again, a woman in the public eye was violated, stolen from and her private life and body were exposed for anyone to see,” she said.
“I will not apologize for living my life and having a personal life that is all mine. It’s truly unfortunate that being exposed in this way is allowed.”
Last August, nude photos of comedian and actress Leslie Jones were leaked, though she took it in stride.
“If you want to hurt anybody these days, you’re going to have to do way more than leak their nudes or call them names,” she said on ‘Saturday Night Live.’
Source: LA Times