“Dumb”, “Stupid”…EU official blasts celebrities who nude pics were leaked

Celebrities whose nude pictures were leaked by hackers have been described as “dumb” for even taking the pictures in the first place and them posting them online.

That came from Günther Oettinger, who would next month become the European Union’s Commissioner for digital economy and society.

In the last one month, nude pictures of more than 80 celebrities including Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence, singer Rihanna and reality star, Kim Kardashian, have been “stolen” and posted online by mystery hackers.

The hackers obtained the images from the stars’ mobile phones by accessing private accounts on the “cloud”

Oettinger has been roundly criticized for making the statement but recently, he refused to apologise, standing by his words.

At a meeting of the Members of the European Parliament (MEP) on Monday, the German politician said: “Stupidity is something you can only partly save people from.

“The fact that recently there have been an increasing number of public lamentations about nude photos of celebrities who took selfies – I just can't believe it.

“If someone is dumb enough as a celebrity to take a nude photo of themselves and put it online, they surely can't expect us to protect them”.

But disappointed critics said that while the images were technically online, they were in fact kept private.

One MEP, Julia Reda of the Pirate Party, flayed Oettinger: “The statement is unbelievable,” she said.

In a blog post, Ms Reda said: “The person applying to be in charge of shoring up trust in the internet so that Europeans do more business online, just blamed people whose personal data was accessed and spread without authorisation.

“He placed the moral blame for that crime squarely on the victims rather than the perpetrators.”
Ms Reda posted a video of the meeting on YouTube.

Asked by BBC to clarify his comments, Mr Oettinger said: “Everybody has a right to privacy. The EU Commission wants to make cloud computing safer”

On whether he would like to apologise for his comments, his spokeswoman said: “No”.

She added: “By making a mockery of what he should recognise as a serious problem and by doing it in this aloof and insulting tone, Günther Oettinger is seriously calling into question whether he is qualified for the job of shaping our digital society for the next five years”.

Meanwhile, female celebrities are threatening Google with a £60million lawsuit for allegedly profiting from the world’s biggest nude photo-hacking scandal.

So, on whose side are you on? Should the celebs have taken pics of themselves naked and “hidden” the pics in th “cloud”? Or is it a matter of privacy?