Investigators from the FBI are now exploring allegations that one of the victims of the now infamous ‘August iCloud Hacking’, US Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney, was under the age of 18 in some of the alleged images of her that were leaked to the internet.
Reddit users have been warned that, “effective immediately: any images/galleries/torrents/
By law in many countries, including Ireland, the US, and the UK, it is illegal to own or share sexual images of another person under the age of 18 at the time they were taken.
According to the Guardian, the lawyers acting for Maroney have served a “legal demand” on porn.com, the hosts of the explicit pictures after their initial leak. Maroney, who became famous for the “not impressed look” after winning silver in the Vault finals in London 2012, took to Twitter to deny the photos are of her by saying, “the fake photos of me are crazy!!was trying to rise above it all, and not give “the creator” the time of day.. BUT..”
A susceptibility in the Apple iCloud allowed almost 200 private images of various celebrities, including most notably Jennifer Lawrence, to be hacked and released to the public via 4chan.com and other host websites.
The hackers in question also claim to have more images and videos in their possession and are said to be holding them for ransom in exchange for a sizeable amount of the online currency Bitcoin.
The FBI are continuing to investigate the issue.
By Steve Burke
