Leaky Links

"If you don't want nude pics leaked, don't take nude pics with your phone —" *Tasers you* *steals your shoes* SHOULDN'T WEAR SHOES BRO

— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) September 1, 2014

A PSA About Nude Photos. Chuck Wendig has a pretty good rant/article on the response to The Fappening. One of the most common things heard was "don't put nude pictures on your phone, (insert insult here)" or "maybe you should try not taking nude pictures". While not taking nude pictures will assure that no one steals your nude pictures it isn't really the point. These people (remember celebrities are people too) had something stolen from them. They didn't accidentally drop their intimate pictures while at the grocery store. Someone broke into something they owned and took them. Were the pictures safe? Obviously not, but were the victims negligent? No, unless it comes out that Kate Upton was tweeting her passwords. When when I do my taxes on-line I have an expectation that TurboTax keeps that shit in a vault, these celebs had similar expectations. They never thought someone would be able to break into their virtual gym locker and steal their panties.

I hate to use buzzwords like "rape culture" because I believe most of the time using them actually hurts your point but in today's society we're sure quick to blame the victim. Doesn't matter if you were jaywalking after stealing some cigars or getting drunk at a frat party there's a knee jerk reaction to say "well if only you had...". I think it's a way we protect ourselves. A feeling like something could never happen to us because we always (insert practical advice here).

Whatever the reason, all deflecting the blame does is empower the culprits and help minimize the nature of the crime. The real story here with The Fappening is that there's a guy, or more likely a group of them, that are breaking into people's phones and personal accounts. If the dates some of the celebs have given are accurate they probably have been doing it for years. That's big news. That's the kind of stuff everyone that uses the internet should be concerned over, not whether or not Kirstin Dunst likes to get it on.

Jennifer Lawrence & Anita Sarkeesian & Zoe Quinn & Brianna Wu are Not To Blame. Sweet Jebus, have you read this stuff about Anita Sarkeesian and Zoe Quinn? Long story short a woman made a youtube video where she presented evidence of sexism in video games and the internet LOST IT. Seriously, this goes from "I think your wrong" to "I'm going to rape you" in under 12 parsecs. Equally deplorable the treatment of video game developer Zoe Quinn who was accused of trading sexual favors for good reviews of some game I've never heard of. Somehow that thing snowballed into a massive flame war over video game journalism and a bunch of Fedora festooned redditors are going to boycott the shit out of everyone. I don't get it.

I understand the visceral reaction to criticism of something you hold dear. I get how that can feel like a personal attack. I don't understand how anyone in their right mind can think that death and rape threats are a perfectly crommulant reaction to that criticism. Maybe that's the problem, these people aren't in their right minds.

Prostate Cancer Foundation Does Not Want Reddit's Sleazy Money. In what I can only described as an act Group Guilt a bunch of redditors decided that in honor of Jennifer Lawrence and The Fappening they were going to donate a bunch of money to prostate cancer research. The research foundation said "no thanks".

I find this particular sequence of events fascinating. If I'm dying of cancer I can't say I'm particularly thrilled that a research group would turn down a bunch of money. Yes, the motivation behind the donation is totes skeevy but is that a crime now? Do you suppose they turned down the money on moral reasons or because they didn't want the bad press? Is donating to charity the modern day form of buying indulgences? "I'm sorry I did whatever I did, here's a giant novelty check to make up for it."

Camera Phone Hacking, I’ve Seen Them All Naked. In an effort to be fair and balanced here's an unrepentant post regarding The Fappening from WWTDD. While I think he's minimizing the actual crime committed I like his enthusiasm and use of swears. I for one don't believe if you look at the pictures you're perpetuating abuse. As someone who was browsing reddit Sunday night these pictures were everywhere, I looked at some of them. Seriously, the posts were EVERYWHERE on reddit. You open up a browser see a dozen threads that say "J-Law hacked cell phone pics!", "topless Kate Upton!", "Justin Verlander's naked ass" and not click on them.. Ok, that last one didn't happen but I wish it had. I would have known what NOT to click. That doesn't make me a terrible person, that makes me a normal flawed human that spent like 20 years of his life desperate to see boobs (kids these days have no idea what it was like pre-internet). Now if I had saved those pictures and immediately seeded a bunch of torrents THAT would make me a terrible person.

One of the unfortunate things to come out of this is that all redditors have been painted with a pretty wide pervert brush. The most common subreddit groups I visit is the Lego subreddit. I'll have you know, almost no one posts nude pictures there. There's a lot of nice people on reddit just looking to talk about things they love. Don't let a bunch of vocal and very active redditors cloud your opinion of the whole group. I mean by all means keep making the fedora/neck beard jokes just realize that #notallredditors are like that.

Also I feel like this would be a good time to remind everyone that Edward Snowden says that there 's a group of analysts at the NSA that trade nude pictures they've found off phones they've "legally" hacked. If this alleged hacking ring all leads back to the NSA that's going to be some glorious schadenfreude.