Finally, the case of Scarlett Johansson’s nude pictures is receiving its due closure as the “Operation Hackerazzi” hacker had pleaded guilty to the charges of sending these private pictures to two gossip websites. These private photos were taken by her to send to her then husband Ryan Reynolds. The person behind this hacking crime is Christopher Chaney, age 35 from Jacksonville, Florida, who pleaded guilty on nine felony counts in federal court on Monday according to CNET.
He just not only hacked into the e-mail accounts of Scarlett Johansson, but did so with other celebrities too, such as Mila Kunis. Almost more than a two dozens of celebrities’ right to privacy was invaded. The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. and he had been persistent on the case since day one. He said:
“This case demonstrates that everyone, even public figures, should take precautions to shield their personal information from the hackers that inhabit that dark underworld.”
For invading this privacy, he is facing a maximum of 60 years in federal prison when his sentence will be announced in July this year. But catching him has not been an easy task. The investigations were underway since the past 11 months and in October he was caught finally. The investigation was named as “Operation Hackerazzi” by the federal officials. Invading an individual privacy is in of itself a violation of the law and should be strictly punished. When such things happen with a well-known person, it is becomes even more difficult as their reputation and public image is on the line.
Hence, the blackmail is even more threatening. Therefore, the charge against Chaney initially was of a 26-count indictment for gaining an unauthorized access to protected computers, wiretapping, identity theft, and damaging computers. This connected almost over 50 victims from the entertainment industry working at various levels to this victimization, five of them have been identified with names that include Johansson, Kunis, Christina Aguilera, Simone Harouche, and Renee Olstead.
Despite all these violations, Chaney said that he was not guilty, but to make accept some of the charges, he made a plea deal with the prosecutors who then ended up charging him for only nine counts. In return, Chaney also gave to the police his computers, external drives and cell phone. He hacked these emails by using “Forgot your password?” feature and took information available publicly about these celebrities.
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