The reaction to the leaking of nude photos of celebrities, including Jennifer Lawrence, was awful. Some put the blame on the victims and others shared liberally with disgusting comments. But in this new world of social media the law is always being rewritten and much like dealing in physical stolen property is a criminal act, sharing hacked photos is too. Representatives for Lawrence have already said that they will sue anyone who shares or hosts the stolen pictures.

“Retweeting your way to prosecution: Jennifer Lawrence scandal could result in a wave of prosecutions” Duncan Lamont, Partner in the Reputation Management team at Charles Russell LLP, commented:

“An individual found to be sharing, retweeting, or providing a link to material that has been hacked, could face the full force of the law. People syndicating and sharing hacked celebrity nude photos, which in the latest incident allegedly purports to feature a host of A-listers, could find themselves in serious trouble, whether here or abroad. The republication of obviously private material is a breach of privacy law, constitutes misuse of private data and is a copyright law issue. Individuals linking and sharing this material could even be prosecuted for conspiracy or obscene publication, which are criminal offences. Social media users searching for this material may want to question the morality of viewing stolen images, while those sharing them may face serious legal repercussions. People should avoid ‘retweeting their way to prosecution’. It can happen – just look at those who joked about bombing airports or tweeted information about ongoing jury trials.”