A hacker has leaked nude photographs of many celebrities, including Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence and pop star Rihanna, on a US-based website. This is another warning to authorities to frame specific laws to punish hackers and digital thieves and safeguard the increasing tomes of private information people store on the Internet, says an article in Beijing News. Excerpts:

Many people have been criticizing the website for its unethical act and for promoting pornography, and the celebrities for their immoral lifestyle. But the fact that private information and photographs of the celebrities have been hacked and leaked should force us to give serious thought to information security in this age of fast developing information technology.

The age of advanced technology is also the age of increasing insecurity. People save a lot of private information on websites and take various measures to ensure its secrecy. Many have set up the passwords and firewalls to keep off voyeurs and potential hackers. Some use software developed by Internet security service providers to store their data.

But Internet security service providers could secretly encode the "backdoors" to the information on any individual, particularly a celebrity, whose private life is of interest to the public. No matter how cautious a person is digital thieves can almost always find a way to pry open the "door" to such information.

The only solution is to enact strict legislation on hacking. Anyone who hacks into other people's private information stored on the Internet and distributes it for personal gains should get the severest possible punishment in order to deter potential offenders from trying to invade the privacy of others.