Our Ultimate Guide to Taking Nude Photos of Yourself
Disclaimer: We think taking nude photos of yourself is generally a bad idea and not worth the risk. But if you’re going to do it anyway (or you just want some good tips on keeping your photos safe) then read on.
Nude photos getting leaked online is a regular occurrence.
And whilst some can be attributed to publicity stunts for flailing celeb careers or those just craving some attention, we suspect most are certainly not welcomed by the people unlucky enough to have their private moments exposed to the whole of cyberspace.
The popularity of “revenge porn sites” as well as leaked photos from hacked phone accounts belonging to high profile owners only seems to be on the rise, as it appears that many of us are not capable of learning from the past mistakes of others.
So we’ve compiled our list of things to do if you don’t want you naked moments – or your other photos as well – leaked across the web.
1. Don’t take nude photos of yourself
Okay, so this is an obvious one yet one that gets curiously overlooked by many. We’re sure there are many reasons why many feel compelled to snap naked photos of themselves, some better than others.
Before setting your phone to “Camera mode”, think twice if what you’re doing is really a good idea. Do you need to take this photo? Remember, if it exists, it could potentially get “out there”.
2. Check your phones synch settings
We seriously doubt point number 1 would dissuade anyone keen on taking nude photos from doing so.
So working on the assumption you’re going to go ahead and do it anyway, make sure your phone isn’t going to automatically upload a backup copy anywhere. iPhones, for example, have a storage service called iCloud that, if enabled, automatically copies your photos to a server on the Internet so you can access them on other Apple devices.
Of course it’s all password protected, but if your password can be guessed, or if criminals find a vulnerability in the service, your files become vulnerable too.
3. Get the photos off your phone and somewhere safe
If you keep naked photos of yourself on your phone then you’re probably taking them everywhere you go. This, unsurprisingly, isn’t a particularly good idea. Phones can be stolen and if you connect to public Wi-Fi they can also be hacked.
You need to get the photos safe. We would recommend on a removable storage device, within a password protected file, in a locked box, stored within the confines of a hidden safe. In a locked room. In an alarmed house.
Okay so that may not always be possible or practical, but use your common sense. Keep the photos hidden away from prying eyes and try to keep them password protected.
4. The Internet is a NO-NO
The Internet is a network which almost anyone can access. So uploading them anywhere on the Internet is a really bad idea.
And yes, this includes emailing your photos (where they’ll undoubtedly end up sitting around in an email account waiting to get stolen) and OF COURSE this means social networking sites like Facebook as well.
If your private photos even touch the web, you could be asking for trouble!
5. Remember, deleted sometimes doesn’t mean deleted.
Any Windows user will be familiar with the Recycle Bin. You delete a file and it doesn’t really get deleted it just moves to the Recycle Bin where you can restore it at a moment’s notice.
Remember if you need to delete a photo from a device, ensure it is deleted permanently. On computers this can often mean downloading software that will physically remove the file from your hard drive as opposed to just making the software “think” the file has been deleted. There are loads of great programs that can do this like Eraser.
6. Get to grips with effective passwords
Where ever you end up storing those photos, make sure they are behind a strong password. There is a good reason that many services require you to have long passwords with different types of characters. It’s because they’re almost impossible to guess and are not susceptible to brute force attacks (attacks that guess words found in the dictionary until they get a match.)
Good passwords are not just words, and contain uppercase characters, numbers and are at least 8 characters long.
7. Be careful if you share the photos with someone else
There is certainly a reoccurring theme when it comes to revenge porn attacks. We think we can trust the one we love with our most intimate moments. But relationships end and not always amicably. Then things can turn really sour.
The one you used to call your best friend can quickly turn into your worst enemy, and the last thing you want is for them to have naked photos of you.
Evaluate the relationship you have with the person you intend to share the photos with. Only you can decide if it is worth the risk, but just know that a common complaint we get on this site is people asking us how to get naked photos of them posted by an ex-lover taken down from the Internet.
And there is no easy way to do that.
Would you take a naked photo of yourself? Or have you done so already? How secure would you keep it?