Since 2014, TheFappening has caused outrage and shock around the world when leaked iCloud photos of nude celebs were released. Celebrity private images are stolen from Appleâs cloud-based storage system, making it one of the most controversial and famed debates on celebrity privacy.
The leak was planned by a group of hackers who gained access to various celebrity iPhone accounts through âbrute forceâ, which is a trial and error attack technique used to guess playersâ passwords or credentials. A number of Hollywoodâs biggest stars had their naked photos splashed across the web, with names such as Jennifer Lawrence, Kim Kardashian West and Selena Gomez becoming some of the unwitting victims.
Most celebrities affected by TheFappening condemned its release with some threatening legal action against those who shared the intimate images without their permission. Despite efforts made to take down pictures, videos and edited versions that spread across the internet like wildfire â some expert commentators argued that once an image is uploaded online, it can never be wiped out completely.
As expected by various analysts, this tragic incident showcased breaches of personal trust between these famous stars and their fans â creating animosity for anyone believed to have participated in what some deemed as a cyberattack violation against them. Some outraged fans publicly showed their loyalty through boycotting products associated with those celebrities whose photographs were published on social media without their individual consents.
In response to solidarity towards these targeted individuals, TheFappening snowballed into new hashtag trends such as #notokay which was accompanied with victims speaking up about how they felt violated after discovering their pictures leaked online. Most significantly however â these cyber robberies generated debate concerning issues related to delicate matters or public humiliation for people caught up in it. The commonly asked questions within this heightened awareness period was whether there should be limits imposed on accessing personal media information regardless if they are located on a cloud platform? And why weren’t measures taken beforehand to protect those famous âvictimsâ from experiencing such misery?
Although outcome remains unclear from investigations undertaken about who was directly involved in this terrible event â itâs clear that any form of unsolicited leakage demands strong intimate boundaries between private lives versus unwanted website publication access rights (namely from celebrities). Such thought-provoking matters raise many moral concerns at organisational level but more importantly it highlights how important it is for all digital users to ensure tighten security around password management protection – in order safely store any or all data stored related habits we now have for our personal use; before something similar happens yet again!