What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? If the unstoppable force is the use of cell phone cameras to take nude selfies (aka “sexting”) and the immovable object is hacking, the result is a pernicious “prank” that has been dubbed The Snappening.
The British newspaper the Mirror reports that hackers claim to have broken into the database of the notorious image-sharing app Snapchat and stolen some 200,000 nude photographs of children as young as 10. The imminent threat to post the pilfered images online comes on the heels of the “Fappening,” which involved the leaking of stolen images of celebrities in compromising poses.
Since half of Snapchat users are between 13 and 17, concerns have been raised that thousands upon thousands of leaked images of underage children will flood the internet, creating not only embarrassment for the subjects and their families but a treasure trove of child pornography for the international pervert community.
The Mirror article cites Britain’s National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children as asserting that as many as 40% of young children have been swapping sexual images. Schoolgirls in the UK, it goes on to say, are increasingly being coerced, presumably be peers, into posting nude selfies. The craze even has a name: “porn to order.”
The trend has found expression here in the U.S. as well, taking the form in some cases of “revenge porn,” deliberating posting salacious images or photos of acquaintances as an act of spite. Some states have passed laws criminalizing revenge porn.
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