Jennifer Lawrence Calls Photo Hack A Sex Crime | $100 Million Lawsuit Threat To Google Finally Gets Action
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We can only assume that actor Jennifer Lawrence had been photographed by Patrick Demarchelier and styled for Vanity Fair November’s ‘Birds of Paradise by Jessica Diehl well before the recent digital leak of her nude photos.
Ah yes. Digging further, the photo shoot was on July 29 and her original, milktoast interview with VF contributing editor Sam Kashner on August 13. Instincts told Kashner that Lawrence would “come out swinging” if given the opportunity — and she does.
The 24-year-old actress had not previously commented on the incident, but she spoke to Kashner at length about the anger she felt. “Just because I’m a public figure, just because I’m an actress, does not mean that I asked for this,” she says. “It does not mean that it comes with the territory. It’s my body, and it should be my choice, and the fact that it is not my choice is absolutely disgusting. I can’t believe that we even live in that kind of world. ”
Lawrence then ticks off a list of emotions, attitudes and life understandings that many women comprehend.
1. The apology. Lawrence says in the midst of anger and tears, she was about to apologize. But for what? She has nothing to feel sorry about. She didn’t do anything wrong.
2. Lawrence wasn’t sending naked selfies to guys on Craigslist. She was in a stable, loving relationship for four years.
3. Guys are very visual creatures. As Lawrence says: “ It was long distance, and either your boyfriend is going to look at porn or he’s going to look at you.” (That works maybe 50% of the time says Anne.)
Lawrence also takes a firm stand on the legal ramifications of the hack. “It is not a scandal. It is a sex crime,” she tells Kashner. “It is a sexual violation. It’s disgusting. The law needs to be changed, and we need to change. That’s why these Web sites are responsible. Just the fact that somebody can be sexually exploited and violated, and the first thought that crosses somebody’s mind is to make a profit from it. It’s so beyond me. I just can’t imagine being that detached from humanity. I can’t imagine being that thoughtless and careless and so empty inside.”
Welcome to our pornified world, Jennifer, one that sucks when your own friends are looking at the images. I didn’t — by the way — look at one of them, because I agree with Lawrence’s argument that this is a sex crime.
The worst part was telling her father, says the reality TV-loving star of ‘The Hunger Games’. Luckily, he had just played golf and was in a good mood.
Money talks both ways in this game of profit. LA entertainment attorney Martin Singer sent a letter to Google early in October representing Jennifer Lawrence and 11 other females. Accusing Google of profiting off the stolen images from Apple’s iCloud platform, Singer put the tidy sum of $100 million in damages on the table.
“[B]ecause the victims are celebrities with valuable publicity rights, you do nothing - - nothing but collect millions of dollars in advertising revenue from your co-conspirator advertising partners as you seek to capitalize on this scandal rather than quash it,” the letter said. “Like the NFL, which turned a blind eye while its players assaulted and victimized women and children, Google has turned a blind eye while its sites repeatedly exploit and victimize these women.”
The LA Times story continues with Google taking action, removing tens of thousands of photos and closing hundreds of accounts on YouTube, Google image links and other Google properties. It’s interesting to read that the first request to Google came four weeks ago, with more than a dozen followup letters.
The $100 million demand letter was sent to Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who also serves as chief executive, exec chairman Eric E. Schmidt and top members of the company’s legal team.
Attorney Singer noted that Twitter had responded and cooperated immediately to contain distribution and take down the hacked photos. ~ Anne
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