On hacking, privacy and common sense

People seem to be gravely concerned with protecting the sanctity of celebrity skin, lately.

It’s a legitimate concern, of course. People shouldn’t feel afraid to send their significant others scandalous selfies to get them through long-distance lonely hours. What is concerning, I feel, is that those people act as if the great celebrity nudes leak of 2014 was an apocalypse visited upon digital security everywhere. It wasn’t.

There was far, far worse things that can be stolen from the cloud than just some grainy boob pictures. For example, someone can steal your entire identity, which happens on such a regular basis that you’d think more people would be concerned with that kind of security.

Did you know that in June 2014 alone, there were 368 reports of identity theft in Canada alone, which resulted on losses greater than $800,000? At least nobody saw their privates, probably.

Digital security is a very real issue, because people lose their livelihoods to it. These celebrities are public figures. They make a living off being known and visible. It comes as no surprise to me, at least, that there are naked pictures of them floating around internet message boards. These nameless (and even had those names stolen) victims don’t have legions of fans fighting for their cause like Jennifer Lawrence.

Yes, it’s a travesty at how some people have reacted to the leaks. It’s shameful, it’s a black mark on inter- net discourse everywhere. But that is a symptom of another problem entirely, not a side effect of security breaches in the internet age. Apple messed up, but they didn’t lose millions of credit card numbers like Home Depot did recently (which recently trigged waves upon waves of credit card fraud cases, by the way.)

Is it not important that your friend Mike’s aunt now has to jeopardize her credit by cancelling a transaction on her credit care made halfway across the world? No, of course not, because “these pictures were taken in the privacy of their homes, so we should be outraged.”

We should be outraged. Livid, even. But not because some people are looking at lewd photos that were never meant to be seen. Because people are championing a cause that makes light of so many other, very serious, plights of hacking and theft.

Use common sense. Don’t cast stones at the vultures that get their kicks from leaking your voyeuristic adventures. What you should really be doing is keeping both eyes open for the real predators, hiding in the bushes waiting to actually ruin your life.