Last year, more than one hundred celebrity women, and one man’s photos, were apparently downloaded and stolen by a hacker. Among the A-listers included in the scandal was Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence. Several photos depicted Ms. Lawrence topless and other shots captured her in intimate and compromising positions. The hacker deceptively obtained these photos through a security flaw in Apple’s online backup service, iCloud. The specific nature of the privacy interest is not clear. The argument can be made that the highly sensitive content of these photos caused more than minor humiliations but rather caused extreme embarrassment, exposure, and vulnerability to the plaintiff. The hacker’s lawyer would have to establish that there was some value to society in revealing these private photos. The hacker could argue that there is educational value in revealing these photos by exposing flaws in Apple’s technology and risks in posting private pictures to iCloud. However, the hacker’s argument could be difficult to prove. For example, in Daily Times Democrat v. Graham, the Daily Times published a picture on the front page of their newspaper of Ms. Graham, a mother who was attending a fair with her children when air jets blew up her dress revealing her undergarments. The court found no legitimate news value in the photograph, particularly because the revealing picture had nothing to do with the fair, which they were reporting on. Therefore, if the hackers wanted to argue that their photographs were newsworthy because they provided educational value to the society, they would have to show that the revealing pictures, although scandalous and shocking, were essential to their story about the dangers of technology. But the difference between this case as Graham is that the victim in Graham was a private person, just a regular mom with kids. The hacker’s lawyer could argue that Jennifer Lawrence’s status as an Oscar-winning actress and widely recognized and discussed celebrity makes any information about her newsworthy. After all, she is in the public eye.

CASE ANALYSIS QUESTIONS:

1. Identify the plaintiff and the defendant in this case of business practice.

2. State whether it is a civil case or a criminal case with explanation to support your answer.

3. What kind of lawsuit was filed by the plaintiff and explain the lawsuit?

4. Give an example of legal tort in actual cases of business activities or practices.