The recent court victory of Theresa Ho, a perceived victim of revenge porn, once again spotlights the dangers of letting your guard, and everything else, down for sordid candids.
The judge in the landmark matter bundled her off with a $150,000 award, paper-clipped to the general warning of "don't take sex pictures." This finger-wagging advisory may seem na�ve and beside the point, but it's an easy solution for a big headache.Online gawkers handed down their judgment on Ms Ho, WI cricketer Lendl Simmons and their unfortunate mistakes.
The dissolution of the pair's relationship would have passed unnoticed, were it not for the digital record of their trysts. All relationships, even those born in sweetness and light, can end disastrously.One party may submit to being photographed in the post-coitus languor of a "guesthouse" afternoon, thinking of it only as an erotic memento, perhaps to arouse passions which invariably become listless as ardour cools.
Meanwhile, the person behind the camera may be thinking, "Lemme snap she/he eh. Eef she/he only play de a--, dey will see how fass dis ennup in de intaanet!"Amateur photography has become as much a part of today's foreplay as is the nervous fumbling with the ambitiously oversized prophylactic.
Sex should be treated like a kitchen grease fire; it must be attacked quickly and with ferocity if anyone is to be spared. They don't call it "fire in your loins" for nothing. Technology though, has changed everything, including our sex lives. In my day, we wrote love notes, scented with Brut or Old Spice.
Some might motivate a response, something short and sour like, "I don't like you...or your hard shoes."Oh that she should respond at all! The belfry clangs with peals of hope!Today's love letter is a naked pic in front of a mirror which reflects a love for self far greater than the love of the person for whom the picture is intended.
What people do in the privacy of their own rented rooms paid for with cash is their own business, except of course when it is made public.Women in particular, are shamed for being sexual creatures by the "holier than thou" stone-throwing rabble. It is rubbish and unfair but, more importantly, it is what it is.
Whatever the law may or may not prescribe in such cases, it is probably better to avoid what is an absolutely unnecessary risk.There is a tendency to interpret this advice as condemnation of those who have suffered invasions of their privacy."The images stolen from my phone/computer are my private property. I am the victim here!"
Very true, but it doesn't make the realities of today's online world any less...real.The challenge of online privacy (as good an oxymoron as you can get) extends far beyond repercussions of stolen or misappropriated sex pictures.
The irony is, we are more fiercely protective of our privacy in a tech age which inspires people to be more open about their personal lives. Through the "selfie" and status update, humans crave attention, but on their own terms. It still hasn't dawned on most of us that Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are public fora. "Privacy settings" closed groups, personal profiles...these are all artifice, illusions of control.
The Internet is the antithesis of privacy. When you go online, you surrender to an army of algorithms, breaking you apart and repackaging your identity for use at a later date.Similarly, other Internet users will appropriate your posts for their own purposes.Just this week, an Australian woman posted a selfie on Facebook holding a winning horse race ticket. A Facebook "friend" copied down the barcode number and withdrew her winnings from a bank machine. LOL!
People are often mortified that a newspaper can lift entire conversations from Facebook and publish them.In the run-up to the 2015 elections, some folks in public life found their intemperate, even racist remarks replicated in the dailies. Social media users are yet to appreciate that what they do online can haunt them in the real world.
In the US it has become commonplace, albeit controversial, for employers to peruse Facebook profiles of job applicants.The same, straight-laced young man or woman at the interview presents a different face in photos where they are drunk and falling out of cars, bars and clothes.
Cell phones and computers are now, little more than portals to the very public cyberspace. Combine the salacious content they may contain with the malevolent forces which exist on the net and well...these things usually end in tears.Of course our laws should keep pace with technological developments, comprehensively punishing those guilty of revenge porn and other privacy breaches.
When it comes to personal reputation, which is more important than wealth (for some of us anyway), is it wiser to rely on the law to moderate human behaviour, or simply protect ourselves through sound judgment?
For all the mishaps that can arise, it is perhaps better to commit your amorous evenings (or lunchbreaks) to the original hard drive–your mind.
