This week, the internet worked itself into a frenzy over leaked naked celebrity pictures.  I haven’t looked at these pictures, and you shouldn’t either.  Being hot doesn’t negate your right to privacy.

Earlier this year, a political activist was arrested for breaking into a nursing home and photographing Rose Cochran, the wife of Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran.  The photograph was posted online as part of a video attacking Senator Cochran.

This act was roundly and rightly criticized as reprehensible, including by Cochran’s political opponents.  I didn’t hear anyone saying they had a right to see the photograph.

Or imagine if someone hacked into Stephen Hawking’s iCloud account, and leaked nude photos of the former Lucasian Professor of Mathematics.  Would people give that leak a nickname and write about their eagerness to see the photos?

The bottom line is that people who seek out and look at these photos are voyeurs who consider their own curiosity and lust more important than others’ fundamental right to privacy.

P.S. Some like columnist Nick Bilton tweeted that people shouldn’t take nude selfies.  That’s hogwash.  I don’t have any nude selfies, but what consenting adults choose to do in private is their own business unless it endangers someone or breaks a law.

P.P.S. Heck, I wish I had some nude selfies of when I was young and had muscle definition.  Back in those ancient days, we used 35mm film in analog cameras, and taking nude selfies would have exposed me (pun partially intended) to the photo lab technicians.  You can darn well bet those guys kept extra copies of any photos they found particularly interesting.  A friend’s mom worked as a nurse at UCLA Medical Center, and she admitted that when movie stars came in for surgery, they all popped by to take a look, especially at the male sex symbols.

P.P.P.S.  Fortunately, even though no nude selfies of my 22-year-old self exist, there is a decent substitute, which is to Photoshop my head onto Channing Tatum’s body.

UPDATE: Apparently, some people still go to photo labs for prints.  Yikes!