The Internet Is Very Sorry For Stealing And Sharing Your Private Photos All The Time
More and more people are leaving the Snapchat leaks alone.
The creepy part of the Internet reared its head again over the weekend after around 98,000 private Snapchat pictures and videos were hacked and uploaded anonymously to the Pirate Bay via a third-party app called Snapsaved.
The incident, which has been dubbed “The Snappening”, is the second time creepy dudes have raided other people’s private photos for vastly stupid reasons in the last few weeks, but a growing awareness of just how weird this kind of thing is seems to be hitting home in the places where it’s needed most; some Reddit users are reacting to the latest leak quite differently than to the last one, deleting links and encouraging others not to share them.
Reddit user stubblyprawn urged people not to post links to the leak as it apparently contains child pornography (Jesus Christ, people), while moderator tittoast (yep) warned subredditors not to post any links to the latest batch of leaks as well: “if you ask for PMs, you will be banned. No warnings. If you post directions on how to get to the Snappening, you will be banned. No warnings. If you post links, at all, to the Snappening. You will be banned. No warnings.”
An anonymous poster on Pastebin went a little further, imploring people not to post, share or look at the Snappening leaks for moral reasons:
“The content that has been released over the last 48 hours is an invasion of personal privacy. I do not condone this action or any like it. I understand the want and need for this content by what seems like a large section of the Internet. Normally, I am completely for the freedom of information and the free flow of content through the Internet; however, this ‘snappening’ will aid no one and hurt us in the end”, the post reads.
“I want possible downloaders of this content to understand that this is personal privacy we are invading. I don’t want to come off as a social justice warrior but we constantly fight on a daily basis for Internet freedoms. If this content is posted/leaked it will just be playing into the hands of the individuals who wish to actively monitor all Internet activity. Please for the sake of the Internet we enjoy and love every day, do not leak this content”.
It’s not just this latest leak that’s prompted a change in attitudes, either; since Jennifer Lawrence came out swinging in Vanity Fair last week, rightly calling what happened to her a “sex crime” and telling those responsible to “cower in shame”, at least some Reddit users have begun to rethink the whole thing. The Daily Beast has reported that numerous Reddit users are debating the morality of the original leaks and calling out people who defend them. User iig had this to say:
“People should be ashamed for openly, happily violating her and other’s privacy. Shouldn’t they? People have tried to develop tortured logics as to why it’s okay, but they’re always, well, tortured. It usually amounts to claiming that you shouldn’t feel bad because everyone is doing it, which is honestly one of the most profoundly shitty arguments I’ve ever seen seriously entertained. It’s like saying that it’s okay to violate someone’s privacy as long as it’s easy.”
It’s worth stressing that these views are by no means the majority, or go uncontested; there are still plenty of weird, nasty dudes who see nothing wrong with looking at people’s private photos without their permission. But the glimmer of self-awareness on display in posts like these is more than what we’re used to from places like Reddit. As user FryingPansexual (why not) put it, “let’s not fucking pretend this shit is morally beyond reproach. We’re being asshole[s] here and I’m fine with that. It’s just creepy to pretend otherwise.”
So…cool, I guess? People are sort of learning that stealing people’s private shit is bad? That is kind of a nice thing.
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H/t Mashable/The Daily Beast.