Beamer wrote on Sep 3, 2014, 00:46:
However, it's just weird to me that the conversation here, and really anywhere gamers venture, is "those idiots got what they deserved!" I mean, that's the very first place the discussion went and really the only place it stayed.

I wouldn't say they got what they "deserved" but their lack of forethought is definitely one of the reasons why this happened. If you're a celebrity and you're taking nude pictures of yourself using your phone (or worse yet, letting a boyfriend/girlfriend take the pictures on their phone), you obviously didn't put much thought into security. If you leave your car unlocked in a shady part of town with the keys in the ignition, should you really be surprised when somebody steals it?

The hackers are obviously directly responsible for the theft but they're hackers. They knew exactly what they were doing and they will never feel any remorse about it. These celebrities, on the other hand, will learn that digital media is inherently insecure and that taking nude pictures of yourself using said media is generally a bad idea. If you must take nude pictures of yourself, use traditional film, develop the photos yourself and lock them in a safe. Or you could just not take nude pictures of yourself.

I dont get what all the fucking fuss is about. This is just free publicity for all involved. I bet that just because of this little stunt these "stars" are at least 5-10% more expensive to hire. I have yet to hear about a celebrity whose career got anything but a boost by something like this.

P.S.

Everyone is responsible for their own digital footprint. Also, fuck Apple.

As I understand it:

1. Upload to iCloud is on automatically. You may not even realize it's happening.

2. Disabling it is challenging, since the menus are buried, assuming you're even aware.

3. Deleting the images on your phone doesn't automatically delete them from iCloud.

4. The images were hacked from the cloud backups. Apple allowed infinite incorrect passwords to access accounts with no waits, allowing brute force attacks using dictionary files containing millions of passwords. This is password security 101 going back decades (I saw PW lockouts in the '80s): you either lock the account after x number of incorrect guesses, or you only allow 3 incorrect guesses per minute forcing the user to wait before trying again. That Apple didn't have this in place is negligent to the extreme, and I'll be surprised if they're not sued over it.

Let's stop blaming the victim here, folks. Apple's policies and lax security protocols are to blame here.

PHJF wrote on Sep 3, 2014, 01:27:
Meanwhile the lesser masses who view these photos can at least for a while enjoy the small victory of having seen a naked celebrity, right before they go back to their comparatively miserable lives.

Also, too: Get off of my lawn?

The SWATTED link

Now leads to this story about a man discovering an underground city.

Can anyone else still get to the original story? Or was it just fake, so there's no point to reading it?

Beamer wrote on Sep 3, 2014, 00:46:

I'd wager most of them didn't know their pictures were backed up on iCloud, or not deleted off of it when deleted off of the device.
I'd wager that's true with most people that own iOS devices.

User error. And to be fair, while I think taking nude selfies is pretty stupid, Apple is ultimately responsible for not protecting their customers' privacy. But at the rate computer systems are being compromised the only safe bet is to assume nothing electronic is private.

Beamer wrote on Sep 3, 2014, 00:46:

However, it's just weird to me that the conversation here, and really anywhere gamers venture, is "those idiots got what they deserved!" I mean, that's the very first place the discussion went and really the only place it stayed.

Americans love to wallow in celebrity misery and scandal, or have you never see a magazine rack at the supermarket? While the average Jane may have a hard time landing a good job with nude pictures of themselves indiscreetly circulating cyberspace, this ultimately isn't going to affect the victims, except maybe at Thanksgiving dinner.

Meanwhile the lesser masses who view these photos can at least for a while enjoy the small victory of having seen a naked celebrity, right before they go back to their comparatively miserable lives.

Beamer wrote on Sep 3, 2014, 00:46:
.

However, it's just weird to me that the conversation here, and really anywhere gamers venture, is "those idiots got what they deserved!" I mean, that's the very first place the discussion went and really the only place it stayed.

Where is the discussion supposed to go? I don't know what you're wanting people to say. The only solution to what occurred here is to be more careful. Either don't take photos you don't want public, or don't keep them stored anywhere network-accessible.

There is no such thing as 100% guaranteed security. It isn't possible. Pointing the finger at Apple, or some dastardly hackers doesn't accomplish anything. You can't erase hackers from the world, and you can't implement 100% security.

But it's impossible to steal photos that no longer exist.

I don't see what's so unconscionable in your mind about suggesting the one and only effective solution to the problem.

Jerykk wrote on Sep 3, 2014, 00:02:

Beamer wrote on Sep 2, 2014, 23:37:

Mad Max RW wrote on Sep 2, 2014, 20:29:

NKD wrote on Sep 2, 2014, 20:10:

No one is suggesting people go out of their way to avoid all risk. But it seems reasonable for a high profile public figure like an A-List actress to take a few basic precautions.

Personal responsibility? Is that still a thing? I thought we lived in a fantasy land where people can walk into traffic with their eyes closed and are never hit.

Being a victim of a crime is personal responsibility now?

Taking rudimentary precautions to protect yourself against crime is a personal responsibility. Emphasis on "rudimentary." It doesn't take much effort to delete nude pictures of yourself. It takes even less effort to simply not take those pictures in the first place.

Your previous analogies were pretty bad. This situation is not in any way comparable to owning a car or a house or having a job. Those are things you have to do in order to survive in modern society. Taking nude pictures of yourself and storing them on a cloud-based service? Completely unnecessary and extremely risky if you're a celebrity who cares about their public image.

You say that life would be boring if people didn't take embarrassing pictures of themselves. Maybe you're right. Jennifer Lawrence's life has certainly become more interesting since the leak. That said, there are other ways to amuse yourself besides taking pictures that would ultimately humiliate you should they ever become public.

I'd wager most of them didn't know their pictures were backed up on iCloud, or not deleted off of it when deleted off of the device.
I'd wager that's true with most people that own iOS devices.

However, it's just weird to me that the conversation here, and really anywhere gamers venture, is "those idiots got what they deserved!" I mean, that's the very first place the discussion went and really the only place it stayed.

Beamer wrote on Sep 2, 2014, 23:37:

Mad Max RW wrote on Sep 2, 2014, 20:29:

NKD wrote on Sep 2, 2014, 20:10:

No one is suggesting people go out of their way to avoid all risk. But it seems reasonable for a high profile public figure like an A-List actress to take a few basic precautions.

Personal responsibility? Is that still a thing? I thought we lived in a fantasy land where people can walk into traffic with their eyes closed and are never hit.

Being a victim of a crime is personal responsibility now?

Taking rudimentary precautions to protect yourself against crime is a personal responsibility. Emphasis on "rudimentary." It doesn't take much effort to delete nude pictures of yourself. It takes even less effort to simply not take those pictures in the first place.

Your previous analogies were pretty bad. This situation is not in any way comparable to owning a car or a house or having a job. Those are things you have to do in order to survive in modern society. Taking nude pictures of yourself and storing them on a cloud-based service? Completely unnecessary and extremely risky if you're a celebrity who cares about their public image.

You say that life would be boring if people didn't take embarrassing pictures of themselves. Maybe you're right. Jennifer Lawrence's life has certainly become more interesting since the leak. That said, there are other ways to amuse yourself besides taking pictures that would ultimately humiliate you should they ever become public.

Beamer wrote on Sep 2, 2014, 23:37:

Mad Max RW wrote on Sep 2, 2014, 20:29:

NKD wrote on Sep 2, 2014, 20:10:

No one is suggesting people go out of their way to avoid all risk. But it seems reasonable for a high profile public figure like an A-List actress to take a few basic precautions.

Personal responsibility? Is that still a thing? I thought we lived in a fantasy land where people can walk into traffic with their eyes closed and are never hit.

Being a victim of a crime is personal responsibility now?

To a degree, yes, it is. It isn't the whole picture but it is an element.

Redmask wrote on Sep 2, 2014, 23:32:
What a surprise

Not quoting you, since it's sure to end up deleted, but I've been nothing but respectful to you and this is how you contribute?

Mad Max RW wrote on Sep 2, 2014, 20:29:

NKD wrote on Sep 2, 2014, 20:10:

No one is suggesting people go out of their way to avoid all risk. But it seems reasonable for a high profile public figure like an A-List actress to take a few basic precautions.

Personal responsibility? Is that still a thing? I thought we lived in a fantasy land where people can walk into traffic with their eyes closed and are never hit.

Being a victim of a crime is personal responsibility now?

* REMOVED *
This comment was deleted on Sep 3, 2014, 07:29.

NKD wrote on Sep 2, 2014, 20:10:

No one is suggesting people go out of their way to avoid all risk. But it seems reasonable for a high profile public figure like an A-List actress to take a few basic precautions.

Personal responsibility? Is that still a thing? I thought we lived in a fantasy land where people can walk into traffic with their eyes closed and are never hit.

Could you say she'll end up with egg on her face? (due to a few basic precautions)

Beamer wrote on Sep 2, 2014, 19:30:

NKD wrote on Sep 2, 2014, 19:09:

Beamer wrote on Sep 2, 2014, 17:05:
What if someone did it to your daughter?

Sorry, but pet peeve trigger...

"Yeah, but I bet if you were emotionally compromised by being more personally affected, your thinking would be different!!!"

No shit, Sherlock. That's why we discuss things from the perspective of a reasonable human being and not from the perspective of some angry fuckwad looking for revenge.

I still don't think it's rational, though.
I mean, from this perspective, we should always just assume the worst. Do you own a car? Why, someone will probably just steal it or hit it while parked. Do you have a house? Why, someone will rob it or burn it down. Do you have a job? Why, you'll probably just get fired or the company will go out of business. Do you buy things online? For the love of god there are hackers, don't do that!

Owning a car, a house, or having a job are not really equivalent to storing nude photographs of yourself in terms of necessity or impact on your life if you were to omit them.

Opting not to delete your nude photos after sharing them with whoever they were intended for creates some risk without really posing much benefit to your life.

No one is suggesting people go out of their way to avoid all risk. But it seems reasonable for a high profile public figure like an A-List actress to take a few basic precautions.

NKD wrote on Sep 2, 2014, 19:09:

Beamer wrote on Sep 2, 2014, 17:05:
What if someone did it to your daughter?

Sorry, but pet peeve trigger...

"Yeah, but I bet if you were emotionally compromised by being more personally affected, your thinking would be different!!!"

No shit, Sherlock. That's why we discuss things from the perspective of a reasonable human being and not from the perspective of some angry fuckwad looking for revenge.

I still don't think it's rational, though.
I mean, from this perspective, we should always just assume the worst. Do you own a car? Why, someone will probably just steal it or hit it while parked. Do you have a house? Why, someone will rob it or burn it down. Do you have a job? Why, you'll probably just get fired or the company will go out of business. Do you buy things online? For the love of god there are hackers, don't do that!

Beamer wrote on Sep 2, 2014, 17:05:
What if someone did it to your daughter?

Sorry, but pet peeve trigger...

"Yeah, but I bet if you were emotionally compromised by being more personally affected, your thinking would be different!!!"

No shit, Sherlock. That's why we discuss things from the perspective of a reasonable human being and not from the perspective of some angry fuckwad looking for revenge.

Jerykk wrote on Sep 2, 2014, 16:26:

Beamer wrote on Sep 2, 2014, 16:15:

Desalus wrote on Sep 2, 2014, 15:06:

Beamer wrote on Sep 2, 2014, 13:30:
Regardless, I don't get this "meet reality" thing. Because you're famous you shouldn't have any expectation of privacy? Where are you drawing that line? Should Erin Andrews have just expected that someone would drill through the peephole in her hotel room door and film her? I mean, meet reality!
Also, your credit card was replaced twice this year due to hacks? What the hell do you do that it keeps getting hacked? I've never had to replace a credit card for anything fraudulent. Twice in one year?

I concur; people’s private sex lives should remain private. Unfortunately that’s an unrealistic expectation for the world we live in. For instance you can have your computer or phone stolen, servers are hacked, account usernames and passwords are stolen, or it can simply come down to a jaded ex-partner posting nude photos of you on the internet. In the least, if you’re living in the USA, the NSA is spying on you (I remember reading that they enjoy sharing ‘private’ nude photos of attractive women among themselves when they find them). This is what ‘meet reality’ means. Celebrities, especially if they are female and attractive, should accept the fact that nothing is really secure on the internet and there are people who are actively trying to target them. It’s unfortunate but it’s reality.

All of those things, less the NSA, are punishable by jail time. They're crimes. Felonies.
You should have a reasonable expectation that people will not commit felonies against you.

I don't really see how your own expectations are in any way relevant to those who perpetrate such crimes. Expecting everyone to obey the law and act in accordance with your own principles and values is unrealistic. As such, precautions must be taken. It's why you lock your door at night. It's why you shred documents with sensitive info on them. It's why you use virus scanners. It's why you don't open suspicious e-mails. It's why you shouldn't take pictures of yourself doing embarrassing or incriminating things.

Life is so much more boring if you aren't taking pictures of yourself doing embarrassing things.

I'll put it this way - if someone were to break into your house and steal your computer, then put your browsing history and file contents on the internet, would you sit there and say "whelp, guess it's my own fault for not using private browsing at all times, and for not deleting every single weird piece of porn I ever downloaded," or would you feel violated?
What if someone did it to your daughter?

How is theft of a replicated image a sex crime? This asshole at Forbes makes me sick with his sycophantish white-knighting apologist bullshit. No one got hurt asshole. Maybe mildly embarassed at best - but if she's taking nude selfies then she's not shy to begin with.