Teh One Who Knocks
10-02-2014, 02:16 PM
By Joel Christie and Wills Robinson for MailOnline
http://i.imgur.com/7maJOsg.png
It's the most widespread celebrity photo hacking scandal to date - and now its time to pay.
A large group of the women whose personal email accounts have been compromised - with the stolen intimate shots of stars including Jennifer Lawrence, Rihanna and Kim Kardashian subsequently disseminated online - are now threatening to sue Google for $100 million, according to a new report.
Page Six are reporting that lawyers representing the women claim the search giant should have been able to remove the images from the internet and, in failing to do so, 'made millions from the victimization of women'.
Top Hollywood attorney Marty Singer has written a letter to Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin accusing them of 'blatantly unethical behavior' on behalf of over a dozen of the stars involved, the gossip column reported.
'Because the victims are celebrities with valuable publicity rights you do nothing - nothing but collect millions of dollars in advertising revenue - as you seek to capitalize on this scandal rather than quash it,' the letter reportedly said.
The exact women involved in the potential lawsuit have not been named.
The letter comes after hacked photos from celebrities including Rihianna and Amber Heard were still believed to be easily accessible on social media sites.
Two topless images of Rihanna appeared online via 4chan and Reddit on Sunday while Heard has been one hardest-hit celebrities, with more than 50 nude snaps of her surfacing. According to TMZ, one featured a message believed to be for her fiancé Johnny Depp.
Despite stringent policies about removing abusive content, the images remained in the public sphere today - and were believed to be easily accessible on Twitter.
Another huge wave of leaked images took place around September 20- with nude photos of Kim Kardashian, Vanessa Hudgens, Kate Bosworth and Hope Solo all being released.
Gabrielle Union said she would be contacting the FBI after she confirmed images of her online were genuine.
Union said in a statement to TMZ alongside her husband Dwyane Wade: 'It has come to our attention it has come to our attention that our private moments, that were shared and deleted solely between my husband and myself, have been leaked by some vultures.
'I can’t help but to be reminded that since the dawn of time women and children, specifically women of color, have been victimized, and the power over their own bodies taken from them.
'These atrocities against women and children continue worldwide.'
In the wake of the stolen images, Union is reaching out to the FBI, TMZ reported.
'For anyone out there also being affected by these and other hacking and hate crimes - We send our love, support and prayers,' the statement also said. ' We have done nothing wrong.'
The other previously unseen images allegedly feature reality TV star Kim Kardashian, American goalkeeper Hope Solo and actresses Kaley Cuoco and Vanessa Hudgens.
They also reportedly include Nashville star Hayden Panettiere, singer Avril Lavigne and actress-turned-fashion designer Mary-Kate Olson.
It comes just three weeks after naked photos of actress Jennifer Lawrence and '100 other stars', including supermodel Kate Upton and actress Aubrey Plaza, were published online.
Although most of the latest victims were named on an original list of targeted celebrities, posted by a hacker to the anonymous image-sharing forum 4chan last month, Kim Kardashian was not.
According to TMZ, the images were reportedly uploaded to 4chan and Reddit, but the latter quickly removed them due to its stringent policy on hacked photographs being shared on the site.
While a representative for Kardashian declined to comment when contacted by MailOnline, the snaps which allegedly feature her have garnered much attention.
They show a woman who resembles the star taking nude selfies in a bathroom setting.
It is not the first time Kim, who is married to rapper Kanye West, has had to deal with racy material being leaked to the public. In 2007, her sex tape with then-boyfriend Ray-J was published online.
The reality star filed a lawsuit against the tape's distributors, Vivid Enetrtainment, which was finalled dropped when she settled for $5 million.
The same year, Vanessa was forced to issue an apology after private photos of her were leaked online at the time she was appearing in Disney's High School Musical 2.
According to E! Online, nude photos allegedly showing actresses Leelee Sobieski and Lake Bell were also uploaded online this morning.
Three weeks ago, compromising images of dozens of celebrities - including model Cara Delevingne and Jessica Brown Findlay - emerged online after a hacker reportedly gained access to their iCloud accounts and stole their pictures.
While it appears that she was unaffected by the attacks, actress Cameron Diaz recently expressed her thoughts on the scandal while in London to promote her latest movie Sex Tape.
Speaking on ITV's This Morning in the UK, she said: 'Whoever has done it, they will be caught and made examples of. This can happen to anyone. If these guys can do it to this group of people then everyone's vulnerable to it.
'I think that people really need to look at... how would they feel if it happened to them?'
Last month, actress Kirsten Dunst became the first celebrity to publicly criticize technology giant Apple when she posted a sarcastic message on Twitter.
The Spiderman star tweeted 'Thank you iCloud', the day after naked photos of her were published online.
Meanwhile, Jennifer Lawrence, a three-time Oscar nominee who won for her role in Silver Linings Playbook, contacted authorities after the images began appearing.
'This is a flagrant violation of privacy,' Lawrence's publicist Liz Mahoney wrote in a statement.
'The authorities have been contacted and will prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos of Jennifer Lawrence.'
Apple has denied that its iCloud system was compromised during the attacks, which were the result of 'a very targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions'.
'We take user privacy very seriously and are actively investigating this report,' Apple spokeswoman Nat Kerris earlier told MailOnline.
The firm, which said it was 'outraged' by the security breach, has now advised worried customers to update their accounts with a 'strong' password and enable two-step verification.
http://i.imgur.com/7maJOsg.png
It's the most widespread celebrity photo hacking scandal to date - and now its time to pay.
A large group of the women whose personal email accounts have been compromised - with the stolen intimate shots of stars including Jennifer Lawrence, Rihanna and Kim Kardashian subsequently disseminated online - are now threatening to sue Google for $100 million, according to a new report.
Page Six are reporting that lawyers representing the women claim the search giant should have been able to remove the images from the internet and, in failing to do so, 'made millions from the victimization of women'.
Top Hollywood attorney Marty Singer has written a letter to Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin accusing them of 'blatantly unethical behavior' on behalf of over a dozen of the stars involved, the gossip column reported.
'Because the victims are celebrities with valuable publicity rights you do nothing - nothing but collect millions of dollars in advertising revenue - as you seek to capitalize on this scandal rather than quash it,' the letter reportedly said.
The exact women involved in the potential lawsuit have not been named.
The letter comes after hacked photos from celebrities including Rihianna and Amber Heard were still believed to be easily accessible on social media sites.
Two topless images of Rihanna appeared online via 4chan and Reddit on Sunday while Heard has been one hardest-hit celebrities, with more than 50 nude snaps of her surfacing. According to TMZ, one featured a message believed to be for her fiancé Johnny Depp.
Despite stringent policies about removing abusive content, the images remained in the public sphere today - and were believed to be easily accessible on Twitter.
Another huge wave of leaked images took place around September 20- with nude photos of Kim Kardashian, Vanessa Hudgens, Kate Bosworth and Hope Solo all being released.
Gabrielle Union said she would be contacting the FBI after she confirmed images of her online were genuine.
Union said in a statement to TMZ alongside her husband Dwyane Wade: 'It has come to our attention it has come to our attention that our private moments, that were shared and deleted solely between my husband and myself, have been leaked by some vultures.
'I can’t help but to be reminded that since the dawn of time women and children, specifically women of color, have been victimized, and the power over their own bodies taken from them.
'These atrocities against women and children continue worldwide.'
In the wake of the stolen images, Union is reaching out to the FBI, TMZ reported.
'For anyone out there also being affected by these and other hacking and hate crimes - We send our love, support and prayers,' the statement also said. ' We have done nothing wrong.'
The other previously unseen images allegedly feature reality TV star Kim Kardashian, American goalkeeper Hope Solo and actresses Kaley Cuoco and Vanessa Hudgens.
They also reportedly include Nashville star Hayden Panettiere, singer Avril Lavigne and actress-turned-fashion designer Mary-Kate Olson.
It comes just three weeks after naked photos of actress Jennifer Lawrence and '100 other stars', including supermodel Kate Upton and actress Aubrey Plaza, were published online.
Although most of the latest victims were named on an original list of targeted celebrities, posted by a hacker to the anonymous image-sharing forum 4chan last month, Kim Kardashian was not.
According to TMZ, the images were reportedly uploaded to 4chan and Reddit, but the latter quickly removed them due to its stringent policy on hacked photographs being shared on the site.
While a representative for Kardashian declined to comment when contacted by MailOnline, the snaps which allegedly feature her have garnered much attention.
They show a woman who resembles the star taking nude selfies in a bathroom setting.
It is not the first time Kim, who is married to rapper Kanye West, has had to deal with racy material being leaked to the public. In 2007, her sex tape with then-boyfriend Ray-J was published online.
The reality star filed a lawsuit against the tape's distributors, Vivid Enetrtainment, which was finalled dropped when she settled for $5 million.
The same year, Vanessa was forced to issue an apology after private photos of her were leaked online at the time she was appearing in Disney's High School Musical 2.
According to E! Online, nude photos allegedly showing actresses Leelee Sobieski and Lake Bell were also uploaded online this morning.
Three weeks ago, compromising images of dozens of celebrities - including model Cara Delevingne and Jessica Brown Findlay - emerged online after a hacker reportedly gained access to their iCloud accounts and stole their pictures.
While it appears that she was unaffected by the attacks, actress Cameron Diaz recently expressed her thoughts on the scandal while in London to promote her latest movie Sex Tape.
Speaking on ITV's This Morning in the UK, she said: 'Whoever has done it, they will be caught and made examples of. This can happen to anyone. If these guys can do it to this group of people then everyone's vulnerable to it.
'I think that people really need to look at... how would they feel if it happened to them?'
Last month, actress Kirsten Dunst became the first celebrity to publicly criticize technology giant Apple when she posted a sarcastic message on Twitter.
The Spiderman star tweeted 'Thank you iCloud', the day after naked photos of her were published online.
Meanwhile, Jennifer Lawrence, a three-time Oscar nominee who won for her role in Silver Linings Playbook, contacted authorities after the images began appearing.
'This is a flagrant violation of privacy,' Lawrence's publicist Liz Mahoney wrote in a statement.
'The authorities have been contacted and will prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos of Jennifer Lawrence.'
Apple has denied that its iCloud system was compromised during the attacks, which were the result of 'a very targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions'.
'We take user privacy very seriously and are actively investigating this report,' Apple spokeswoman Nat Kerris earlier told MailOnline.
The firm, which said it was 'outraged' by the security breach, has now advised worried customers to update their accounts with a 'strong' password and enable two-step verification.