What the Celebrity Nudes “Fappening” Really Tells Us About Today’s Tech Giants

On Sunday, stolen pictures and explicit digital-video clips of dozens of naked celebrities, including Jennifer Lawrence, the 24-year-old Academy Award–winning star of Silver Linings Playbook, the Hunger Games franchise, and many other films, were made public.

The photos were posted anonymously to image boards such as 4chan and AnonIB and placed on file-sharing services.

A comprehensive timeline of what’s known about the leak, which came to be known as “the fappening” (“fap” is slang for masturbation), may be found on Gawker. Much of the ensuing online discussion (well summarized by Samantha Allen at the Daily Beast) essentially came down to this simple exchange of views:

Eager moralists said that the stars had it coming: Don't take naked pictures with your phone if you don't want them online. More