Celebrities victimized by the egregious hacking scandal have called in their lawyers for damage control and retribution. Hollywood's top attorneys have started their pursuit of every outlet that has played a part in disseminating their clients' leaked nude photos, and Google made the cut.
Lawyers for the female celebrity victims are threatening to sue Google for $100 million for "allegedly failing to remove the images" leaked by hackers over the last month, according to Page Six. More than 100 celebrities including Jennifer Lawrence, Rihanna, Kate Upton and Ariana Grande had their private moments leaked on the Internet, some more than once.
Hollywood attorney Marty Singer, who represents dozens of the celebrities involved, has written a letter to Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, executive chairman Eric Schmidt and the company's lawyers accusing them of "blatantly unethical behavior" and "making millions... from the victimization of women," according to Page Six.
Singer claims the tech giant didn't take the necessary steps or act in timely manner to remove the images from Google-owned sites like BlogSpot and YouTube. The Lavley & Singer firm sent the company a notice to remove the photos four weeks ago and a dozen more in the meantime, according to Singer.
"Google knows the images are hacked stolen property, private and confidential photos and videos unlawfully obtained and posted by pervert predators who are violating the victims' privacy rights," Singer wrote. "Yet Google has taken little or no action to stop these outrageous violations"
Singer even compared Google's situation to the NFL's recent player scandals.
"Like the NFL, which turned a blind eye while its players assaulted and victimized women and children, Google has turned a blind eye while its sites repeatedly exploit and victimize these women," he wrote.
Others victims have reached out to law enforcement authorities to help bring down the images on file-sharing websites such as Reddit, 4chan and Imgur, and to hold those sites accountable for hosting the photos.
