14 DAY TRIAL // The devastating effects of the first Celebgate had barely died down since the beginning of the month and a brand new wave of leaks hit the internet over the weekend. Surprisingly, no one saw it coming so that it caught most of the people involved unaware, even the ones who were also involved in the first round of leaks.
A lot more famous women seemed to have been targeted this time around, with Kim Kardashian, Rihanna, Amber Heard, Hope Solo, Jenny McCarthy, Sarah Hyland, Gabrielle Union, Leelee Sobieski and Scarlett Johansson being exposed on the web, for everyone to see.
The effects of the first round of leaks had barely died down
The first leak generated a lot of discussions about the whole morality of the situation, you know, people willingly seeking out the photos and watching them, while complaining on public forums about the invasion of privacy by organizations like the NSA.
It also brought about discussions as to why only women kept getting targeted and it raised one heck of a scandal regarding women's right and the objectification of women. Basically, it managed to stir up every controversial subject on gender equality, the current state of the media, out modern obsession with adult entertainment and everything else in between.
While the discussions in their vast majority turned out to be fruitless (the fact that a second leak just happened is proof of that), they did show that some people were more level-headed than others and that there were some willing to fight for the rights of famous women around the world who, at the moment, are looking like the most targeted category.
Internet security? That's an oxymoron
Then there were discussions about online security, which many think it's still a joke, no matter how many safety precautions we take. And this brings us to our point today: if you are a celebrity, and in your line of work your image and reputation make the difference between a comfortable life and being broke, why would you chose to risk your image like that?
Sure, I'm going to hear arguments of how all these women who got hacked, did it in the privacy of their home, using their personal phones and strictly for their own purposes. But phone hacking is nothing new, it's been around for years, ever since the first mobile device could take and store photos.
I'm not even going to address this obsessive need of people (notice how I don't generalize it to women only, because men do it too, though admittedly in far smaller numbers) to take indecent photos on their phones. But it does seem that every actress or famous woman out there, the moment they see themselves naked in a mirror, they feel the need to snap a photo.
OK, we get it, you're young, good looking and famous! Do you really need to keep a photo on your phone to remind yourself about that every day?
Jennifer Lawrence, the human sacrifice on the altar of the internet
Let's take Jennifer Lawrence as an example for this argument. She's been by far the worst hit in this scandal, since she was present in both waves of leaks, making the grand total of over 120 photos floating around on the web, all of them indecent and all of them intimate poses.
In them, Jennifer can be seen mostly undressed, in bathrooms, bedrooms and on film sets, admiring either her back side or the front, with an almost religious veneration. I have a strong suspicion that the only reason Jennifer has the most leaked photos is because she actually had the most intimate photos on her phone.
The conclusion would be that Jennifer Lawrence basically loves her body, but it goes way beyond the whole “Damn, I look good” feeling some of us get when looking in the mirror, and transcends into an obsession.
By stretching the argument a bit, we can apply the same logic to just about every other celebrity that's been involved in the scandal. These women then fell victim to their own obsessions and all the hackers did was exploit that.
Imagine if you were a celebrity who got their phone hacked and all the hacker would find was photos of places you've been to, meals you've eaten and probably a photo or two with you and a friend or family member. What would the hacker leak then?
Helen Mirren raunchy photos? Where? Exactly!
Back when the first leak took place, actress Helen Mirren jokingly said that she was angry no one hacked her. But the truth is that even if they had, chances were slim that they would find something worth leaking on the internet, and that's not because Mirren leads a dull and boring life, quite the opposite.
But when you're obsessed with yourself and constantly need to remind yourself how beautiful and perfect you look, then you probably can't complain when you actually get hacked. Especially since it's not your first time. Because for some, this is not the first time it happens.
Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice ... profit
Actresses like Vanessa Hudgens and Scarlett Johansson know very well what it's like to have your intimate images leaked, because for them it happened years ago, but it looks like the lesson was not hard learned.
So then, should you feel guilty for looking at their photos? Yes, but if you can't sleep tonight because of the guilt, you can tell yourself that they share part of the guilt because they never learned their lesson.
One final word for all the women out there, be they famous or not: ladies, please stop taking naked selfies with your phone, don't you see how easy it is to hack them? If you really must have a reminder of how well you look without clothes on, why not do it classy, get an artist to paint you and then hang it up on your bathroom wall as a reminder.