Her Lawsuit Has Hit a Huge Snag

If there's one good thing to come out of this horrific mass nude picture leak so far, it's that it's opening up a dialogue about the double standard of male and female nudes and the violation of women's bodies inherent in sharing them without consent than ever before. Jennifer Lawrence is pursuing legal action against the hacker, essentially leading the charge in a highly publicized move that will, if nothing else, prove to women that they don't have to take something like this lying down, but her lawsuit might have hit a bit of a snag. According to TMZ, a porn site is using copyright law to block Lawrence's case against it in a pretty horrific way.

TMZ's sources report that Lawrence had her attorney write the site to have them take down her pictures on the basis that she is the copyright holder for the picture, seeing as she, you know, appears naked in them. However, the site fired back that not all of the photos are selfies and thus Lawrence either needs to prove that she's the one who took them or release the name of the person that did. Presumably according to copyright law, the person who takes a photograph owns the copyright for that photograph, not the people who appear in them.

The copyright law is one thing, not unfair in and of itself. It's the fact that this site is using it as a claim to some "right" that they have to display the private photos of Lawrence's bare body because those pictures aren't legally hers even though she's the one in them. It's the fact that they are using this legal loophole to keep the pictures displayed for as long as possible while Lawrence regroups and comes at them from another angle. It's the fact that asking them to cease and desist isn't enough to appeal to their common human decency, forcing her to literally fight to get her privacy back.

Honestly, Lawrence and every other celebrity, both affected by the scandal and unaffected by the scandal, have made it incredibly clear what a gross violation of privacy this is and what flagrant disregard for Lawrence's wishes and respect for her body looking at or distributing the pictures are. The fact that this site is allegedly forcing Lawrence to relinquish more of her privacy just to get a piece of it back is horrifying. She shouldn't have to lose more peace of mind in order to gain back her peace of mind. She shouldn't have ever had her nudes leaked to begin with.

Image: WeHeartIt