Kate Upton’s leaked pictures continue to circulate online despite the model’s efforts to have them taken down due to copyright complaints.
Representatives for Upton and Jennifer Lawrence contacted authorities after the leak caused hundreds of graphic of images to pour online on Sunday, including dozens of the model and actress.
The efforts combined with copyright complaints have been successful in some respects with some posts being taken down but the pictures continue to spread across multiple websites.
Reddit and its image sharing website Imgur and the notorious forum 4Chan have been at the heart of the hack, with most of the pictures and videos originating at 4Chan and quickly spreading to Imgur.
Individual pictures such as one of Upton and boyfriend Justin Verlander have also circulated at times on Twitter.
Representatives of Twitter, Reddit, and Imgur did not respond to messages seeking comment.
Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander throws against the Minnesota Twins during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 23, 2014 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Craig Lassig)
Verlander, a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, addressed the hack for the first time on Tuesday.
“I’m not going to comment on my personal life,” the 31-year-old said. “I never have and I never plan on it. I keep my personal life personal. The focus for me is on the Detroit Tigers. I don’t want to take any focus away from this team and what we’re trying to accomplish. We’re in the middle of a pennant race. We’re trying to win a pennant and all of my focus currently is on doing whatever I can to help our team win our division.”
Verlander knew there was interest in his side of the story and wanted to address the situation.
“I know a couple of guys wanted to get some questions from me yesterday,” Verlander said. “Instead of everybody kind of sneaking around and getting questions at specific times, it’s just easier to say, ‘I’m not commenting on that. I’m trying to win a pennant.’ I know some guys are probably getting a lot of pressure from other people to get quotes or whatever. I knew I'd be getting a lot of questions. This is it.”
Security experts say that the FBI, which is working with Apple and other partners, will focus on who’s responsible for the theft of the photos, the tools they used, and the idiosyncrasies of how they program.
“There is a digital trail,” said Mark Rasch, a former federal prosecutor who specialized in computer crimes. “What you hope for (is) the people aren’t very good at what they do, that they screw up, that they (upset) other hackers. Or that they leave a trail.”
Rasch said authorities will sometimes catch an early break or get a tip that leads them to suspects. The investigations are difficult, he said, but “It’s equally difficult to get away with it scot free.”
In the past decade, federal prosecutors have successfully prosecuted a Massachusetts teenager who hacked Hilton’s phone account and posted her contact list online. The teenager was sentenced to several months in jail.
Christopher Chaney, a Florida man, was ordered by a federal judge in 2012 to be imprisoned for 10 years for the hack that targeted Scarlett Johansson.
The people responsible for stealing the Lawrence photos might also be tracked by private investigators who can operate faster than government agents, said Rasch, whose company Rasch Technology and Cyberlaw has conducted similar investigations but is not working on the current data breach.
“Even if you can get it taken down, it’s likely to pop up somewhere else,” said F. Jay Dougherty, a law professor at Loyola Law School Los Angeles who specializes in entertainment and intellectual property issues.
Mickey Osterreicher, a media lawyer and general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association, said a successful copyright complaint could scrub the images from a site forever, but Lawrence and other celebrities will have to remain vigilant and keep filing takedown notices.
“You have to go to each place,” he said. “It’s kind of like playing whack-a-mole.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
