IAU and nude pictures

Okay so I'm a little late to the Isanyoneup.com debate, although not late in viewing it. If anyone is curious they can go ahead and check it out, although it's definitely NSFW.

I'm more concerned with the legality of the issue. At this point it seems pretty clear that it's not illegal to post these images on a website. There is however an issue of whether or not the person who takes the pictures of themselves (self-shots) actually owns the rights to the photography, in which case they may request them taken down for copyright reasoning.

Should it be illegal? Do we have the personal right to ownership in any photograph we are in? I personally think so. To me privacy is much more important than anything else. We should own any photograph we are in and have a choice as to what happens to it. In saying this, I don't actually feel sorry for the people who are on this website. I mean if you're stupid enough to take nude pictures of yourself, you will end up facing consequences (some of them will never be the same.) Relationships don't last forever, so if you actually care about not being seen naked then you shouldn't take pictures to begin with.

I do think, though, that having naked pictures of yourself floating around shouldn't tarnish your reputation. It's along the exact same lines as tattoo's. Tattoos are by and large looked down upon in professional work environments. My question is why? They're ink on your skin. They may or may not say something about you, but it's just as irrelevant as what you choose to wear clothing-wise outside of work or school. These naked pictures are along the same lines; does it really matter that you've been seen naked? The two aren't analogous but they're both choices that have been deemed bad for arbitrary reasons. These expectations are from yesteryear, like elvis dancing was inappropriate, yesteryear.

Both of these concerns just seem so f*cking trivial at this point that I don't understand where the issue resides. If only social expectations didn't shape our futures then maybe we would stand a reasonable chance to be who we are around others without fearing who they think we are, should be, or could be.


It's after christmas but screw it; Bah Humbug.