Hollywood hacking scandal may be tipping point

The hacking of photos of Jennifer Lawrence and other celebrities is only the latest in a long and lurid line of violations of Hollywood privacy dating back to the earliest days of the movies. But legal experts say the breach is an especially troubling one, and the fact that the FBI and federal authorities are taking it seriously may be a sign of a tipping point in the endless war between stars and the bottom-feeding Internet trolls who make the tabloid press look tame.

“What was done seems clearly illegal, and a clear invasion of privacy,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, a constitutional law professor at the University of California, Irvine. “If those responsible can be found, they could be criminally prosecuted and civilly sued for invasion of privacy. It is the unfortunate reality that there is no guarantee of privacy once something is put on the Cloud or anything else than can be hacked. But the conduct was illegal and tortious, if those responsible can be caught.”