Celeb Hacking & Online Galleries
So by now you're probably aware of the hacking scandal over the weekend that resulted in semi-nude and nude photos of several popular celebrities being "leaked" onto the internet. The celebs immediately went into acceptance or denial and stuck their best PR & lawyer types on it. What happens if that had been your boudoir images? Situations like the above are one of the reasons I made an early decision to not offer an online gallery to clients. You might wonder what the two have to do with each other - after all you are not likely a major Hollywood celeb.
Several months ago it was brought to the attention of numerous photography groups I'm a member of that there was a web forum openly "hacking" into boudoir photographers client galleries. They did this for fun, not so much for profit or the recognition. Basically you provided a photographer and a gallery you'd like access to and some of the members would work on cracking the password. No one showed remorse for doing this. There were common themes from the photographers who had images stolen - non-private events, easily cracked passwords (SaraAug2014), and galleries left for long periods of time (giving a hacker more time to crack your password). The gallery provider I would normally use was not one of the affected sites.
Though there are other reasons for not using an online gallery (we'll talk about those some other time), security is a big one. I understand this is a sensitive event and most people don't want their photos taken and passed around online and outside of approved accepted use. In the extremely rare cases that I need an online gallery, I always keep it a private event (meaning you must have the link, you cannot simply search for it), I generate a minimum 8 character password (upper + lower + number) and I only keep your gallery online for a limited period of time. Is this foolproof? Nope, but face it, nothing is. Even companies having good security measures and protocols in place are still haunted by hackers.
Us common people don't have PR folks and lawyers at our disposal to chase down and prosecute hackers. We have limited time, resources and of course money. But at the same time, we should hope to be afforded privacy in our lives.
I want you to be confident that I'm going to do the best I can to protect your private images. During your reveal & order session you will fill out a privacy policy form that outlines the acceptable use of your images (ranging from none at all to full release). No images will ever be used without consent from the client. If you ever change your mind about the release status of your images, please do not hesitate to contact me.