No privacy of Internet
Most of us who started out as reporters in the newspaper business can remember our editors warning us, “Never type anything you don’t want to see in print for the world to read.”
This admonition usually came after the discovery of some joke headlines or stories composed by newsroom wags with too much time on their hands. In rare instances, jokes meant only for the amusement of colleagues accidentally made it into print, embarrassing the publisher and causing damage to the newspaper’s credibility. (A photo caption like, “Idiot mayor addresses group of morons” might be worth a chuckle in the newsroom but cause irreparable damage in the town.)
Nude photos presumed to be of Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, Ariana Grande and other celebrities were leaked online earlier this week by hackers who had gotten into iCloud accounts. The celebrated women are understandably upset, embarrassed and angry. They claim the availability of the photos everywhere on the planet is an invasion of their privacy, and no doubt it is. But it is too bad the celebrities were not given the same type of advice that we inky wretches in the newspaper business received: If you don’t want the world to see pictures of you nude, don’t pose for them, or for goodness sake, don’t post them to the Internet. Anyone who uses the Internet, email and the various social media, like Facebook and Twitter, should have no expectation of privacy.
We do have some sympathy for famous women whose faces are attached to bodies not their own by sick computer wizards. This has become part of the cost of celebrity in a society so infatuated by it.
But for those suffering the delusion their posted naked photos are for a few other eyes only, consider modesty as an option.