Privacy in Modern Media
When we talk about the advancement of modern media it is important to remember a person’s right to privacy in our new technology-centered world. This past week’s reading was about the mass media as it relates to the United States legal system. The topic I have chosen to focus on is privacy. This is because privacy is an important part of American values. Though we do not have an explicit right to privacy in the Constitution, we do however have an implied right to privacy through case law and common practice.
Griswold v. Connecticut confirmed “together the First, Third, Fourth and Ninth Amendments, create a new constitutional right, the right to privacy.” This means that even though the founding fathers never drafted an Amendment that specifically stated, “Citizens have a right to privacy,” we still have an implied right to privacy based off of the combination of these Amendments and their current interpretation by the Supreme Court. The reason why I chose this as my topic is because I find case law almost as interesting as corporate law. In the next section I’m going to take us through the controversial topic of person privacy as it relates to mass media and the power of the internet.
“It’s not a scandal. It’s a sex crime.”
~Jennifer Lawrence
The Fappening is Certainly Happening
One of the most relevant cases of media’s role in the personal invasion of privacy comes from the “Fappening.” The Fappening is an online blog where various hackers have posted stolen risqué photos of famous celebrities. How they obtained these photos is quite interesting. When a person takes a photo on an iPhone, even photos that are not meant for anyone else to see, their phone automatically backs the image up on Apple’s iCloud. Well, society’s elite group of hackers soon figured this out, and began hacking into the iCloud accounts of over 30 famous celebrities.
The figure-head of these A-List celebrities is Jennifer Lawrence. Ms. Lawrence originally denied that the photos were hers, but after realizing she needed grounds for a lawsuit, she admitted to taking the photos. In an in-depth interview, Lawrence spoke out against the actions of these “hackers” and called for legal action. Lawrence is just one of many celebrities that have been affected by this campaign, although not all of the photos have been proven real, yet (for the full list of celebrities visit the video link attached to the title). Many celebrities attribute this breach of personal privacy to Apple’s system protections. Here is what Apple had to say about the hacking:
We wanted to provide an update to our investigation into the theft of photos of certain celebrities. When we learned of the theft, we were outraged and immediately mobilized Apple’s engineers to discover the source. Our customers’ privacy and security are of utmost importance to us. After more than 40 hours of investigation, 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. We are continuing to work with law enforcement to help identify the criminals involved.
Apple claims that the hacking of the photos was merely just a matter of finding out celebrities account usernames and passwords. But what the video above describes is how it was even easier to obtain certian photos because the some celebrities’ boyfriends had photos on their phones with little to no protection on their accounts. Being that Apple’s response may have been less than satisfactory to celebrities, I wonder if Apple might be in the crosshairs of future litigation against breaches of privacy. Then again we do willingly agree to those 50+ pages of Terms of Use.
As of today the federal government has not shut down the website, in fact it has only grow stronger. Active members of the online community came together to make a website that stores every nude or risqué photo of a famous person that has ever been posted online. Usually with these types of situations, the websites will be shut down, but the images are never completely gone. Seeing an event like this makes me wonder, if a decentralized online world is in the best interest of American society and our rights as citizens.
Additional Link to Consider:
1. Online Case Law Reference:
Discussion Questions:
1. If you were a celebrity who had their private photos leaked on the internet, what would your immediate response be to the uproar?
2. What should the punishment be to the hackers (if they are ever found) for leaking the photos? Do you think this crime is worse than the government reading through your private emails and text messages?
3. Because privacy was not specifically mentioned in the wording of the Constitution, do you think the founding fathers meant for us to have the right? Or did this just come about through the views of the Supreme Court Justices?
I feel that the common initial reaction to the exposure of personal information, through all facets of media, is reciprocated with a more vengeful counterattack: jail time for the incriminated. While this is understandable, I feel that a settlement between the victim and the hacker should be in the form of reparative monetization. And while the leaking of these pictures, in many ways, improved the reputation of people like Ms. Lawrence (based on her firm, unapologetic attitude regarding the issue), this is still more or less a libelous act; legal action SHOULD be taken.
I believe my reaction would be outraged honestly. For my up most private to be what I consider to be invade would be beyond words. I feel if I were a celebrity that photo was leaked I don’t believe I would have words as I look at many of the celebrities today whose photos that have been leaked have had no words. I don’t think you plan a statement for such an event and when it happens you are let with no words as to explain such a private action. I honestly think there should be a huffy jail sentence for individuals who invade peoples privacy. I feel that both actions are equally wrong don’t believe that the government should be able to continually justify their actions. I think it was left out because even during the time of our founding father privacy then was continually invaded.
1. My reaction would be anger and outrage. To have private photos leaked publicly is a clear violation of privacy. I am not sure that I would be able to handle the situation as well as most of the celebrities did. Jennifer Lawrence used the leak as an opportunity to address the violation of privacy, but also how leaking the photos should be considered a sex crime and was degrading to woman. She also used it as a platform to say that it should be the hackers, not the people who took the photos who should be shamed.
2. I am not sure what the appropriate punishment would be, but maybe something relating to sex crimes or violation of privacy. I think that comparing the governments violation of privacy to that leaking photos is like comparing apples and oranges. While the government violates privacy in the name of security, I believe that the violation of privacy has become far to invasive. However, the difference is that the government has access to our personal data, but for the most part is not going through it. On the other hand, the photo leaking incident’s goal was simply to gain access to photos and share them with the rest of the internet. At least with the government, people’s private information is not being gathered with the sole purpose of being leaked.
3. I think that the right to privacy is implied in several of the constitutional amendments, such as the fourth amendment. However, I believe that the Supreme Court has tried to extrapolate on that meaning and define the right to privacy in a clear manner, so the right is no longer implied.