Obiter Dicta Issue 2 - September 15, 2014

Volume 88   |   Issue 2  |  obiter-dicta.ca The Definitive Source for Osgoode News since 1928 Monday, September 15, 2014 celebrity nude photos is non-consentual publication sexual assault? ê Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique. Only her public photos, not her private ones, are designed for your ogling. michael capitano › news editor W hen it comes to crime, internet laws have failed to keep pace with reality. Theft and assault (in the physical sense) are readily prosecuted. Their cyber versions? Not so much. The non-consensual publication of nude celebrity photos of Jenifer Lawrence and many others, hacked from secure personal accounts, brings the issue to the fore. What laws, if any, can protect people from the inadvertent posting of the most private kind of photographs? Approaching a random woman on the street, removing her clothes, and snapping pictures of her is a lewd act of voyeurism and sexual assault. Isn’t the above the digital equivalent? Forget about advice such as, “Don’t take nude selfies” or “Shrug it off.” It only reinforces the “blame the victim mentality” that plagues women when it comes to the positive assertion and security of their sexual agency. It is their choice to take the photos or not and their choice who to share them with, if anyone. All women deserve to explore their sexuality on their own terms, not to be exploited to fulfil the masturbatory fantasies of the internet. I’m glad that authorities have taken this seriously, even if it has only/mainly been for celebrities. In 2012, the man responsible for hacking naked pictures of female celebrities and non-famous women was sentenced to ten years in prison—but for hacking for gain, illegal wiretapping, and aggravated identity theft. Nothing about the actual content of the person’s actions. It misses that the victim was a woman whose body was exposed without her consent. That’s not to say the issue isn’t being addressed. » see cover, page 11 In this Issue ... editorial West Queen West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 news Celebrity Nude Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . cover, 11 Dean’s Welcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 arts & culture Jurisfoodence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 sports Future of the Blue Jays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10