Uploading Nude Photos Is Like Not Wearing a Seatbelt: Stupid

In his outstanding piece about the Left’s hypocrisy on issues of privacy, my colleague Ben Shapiro notes that the likes of Lena Dunham are attacking those questioning the judgment of actresses uploading nude photos of themselves as “blaming the victim.” What horse manure. Taking nude photos of yourself in this day and age is beyond stupid and immature and reckless and naïve.

Most of the actresses whose kibbles and bits are now forever exposed in the ether of the Internet are pretty young, in their 20s and early 30s. Isn’t this supposed to be the tech-savvy generation? Have none of these young women or the handlers who handle them familiar with all the high-level hacking cases that have occurred since, oh, the launch of this InterWebDotNetThingy?

I’m not making a moral judgment. However consenting adults want to get their freak on in the privacy of their own Hollywood Hills mansion — hey, be my guest. But when you upload photos of said freak to the iCloud, you are uploading them to, yes, someone else’s computer. This is stupid in the extreme. 

Of course these young women are victims. Of course I feel bad for them. Yes, they have an expectation of privacy. As lofty as it sounds, though, an expectation of privacy does not mean you didn’t do something stupid.

When I’m minding my own business following the rules of the road, I have an expectation not to get T-boned because some jerk  ran a stop sign. But even though I have that expectation, I still wear a seatbelt — and am required to by law.

Anyone who doesn’t wear a seatbelt is an idiot. The accident might not be my fault, but an “expectation that people should obey the traffic laws” doesn’t mean I’m not an idiot.  

You know who else is an idiot? Anyone who leaves their wallet on a restaurant table when they go to the bathroom or leaves their keys in an unlocked car or gives their Social Security numbers out on the Internet or violates any number of common sense rules millions of intelligent adults follow everyday even though we should have AN EXPECTATION NOT TO BE VICTIMIZED IN SOME WAY.

Anyone who puts anything anywhere on the Internet that they don’t want the whole world to see is acting stupidly — especially if you are famous. That’s not right. I agree. But it is what it is. 

I’m sorry, life’s not fair or just or the way it ought to be. And I want to reassure everyone that just because people (including myself) can sometimes act stupidly, it in no way mitigates or diminishes the crime against these women. Whoever violated their privacy in such a horrible way should face the full consequence of the law. It’s not funny. It’s not deserved. Moreover, whoever seeks out these photos online should be ashamed of themselves.

If the world was what it should be, we could all  safely act stupid in the warm comfort of an expectation of whatever… But the world is what it is. So we should wear a seatbelt, lock our cars, stay out of dark parking garages, not give out our Social Security numbers, and maybe think about buying a Polaroid.  

 

Follow  John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC