Google has removed links to the hacked nude photographs of Jennifer Lawrence which were posted online following the iCloud security breach on Aug. 31, when the images were stolen. It appears however, that the photos still remain widely available for viewing.
By now everyone is aware of the widescale iCloud security breach which resulted in the theft of nude photographs of various top Hollywood celebrities, including Ariana Grande, Victoria Justice and Kirsten Dunst, many of which were subsequently posted online on numerous websites.
Jennifer Lawrence is arguably the biggest name celebrity involved. When her representatives confirmed the authenticity of the photos, they also threatened legal action against anyone who posted them, stating in an email, "This is a flagrant violation of privacy. The authorities have been contacted and will prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos of Jennifer Lawrence."
That didn't stop posters, including Perez Hilton, from flooding their websites with Lawrence's nude images. Hilton stated that while he wasn't forced to do so and was not contacted by Lawrence's reps, he had a change of heart and decided to remove the pictures voluntarily. The top celebrity blogger wrote, "I acted in haste just to get the post up and didn't really think things through. I'm sorry. At work we often have to make quick decisions. I made a really bad one today and then made it worse. I feel awful and am truly sorry. Upon further reflection and just sitting with my actions, I don't feel comfortable even keeping the censored photos up. I am removing them."
Other websites, however, kept the photographs up on their sites despite the threats and objections of Lawrence's reps. Now, Google reportedly has removed two links to one of those sites after a complaint filed by Lawrence's lawyers, Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp, under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), claiming that the copyright to the photos is owned by Lawrence and the use and publication of them without her permission is unlawful.
Under the DMCA, Google is now required to "expeditiously" remove the illegal images from its servers, which it has in fact done. However, the offending site has already changed its domain name in an attempt to avoid the request, which now has to be modified. A simple Google search shows that numerous sites are apparently still hosting the nude photos, indicating how difficult it can be to remove stolen images or content once out there.
