Have you posted any nude photos on photobucket, or anywhere else for that matter? Well, you may want to jump over to Reddit and take a look. I’ll explain the Reddit connection in a minute.
Fusking, the latest trend, involves techie-types locating your risqué photos, whether they are password-protected or not, and then posting them for the world to see.
The activity isn’t anything new, with some suggesting it’s been going on for about a decade. However, there appears to be a new surge in popularity. In fact, there is a forum on Reddit devoted to newly “lifted nudie photos” and even includes instructions on how to find them on your own.
The Huffington Post explains how it works.
On Photobucket, each picture you upload has an individual URL, which makes it convenient to message friends and family with a link to a specific photo. Photobucket is set up such that even if you designate an entire photo album as private or password-protected, you can still send out a link to an individual photo, and a friend will be able to view it (just not the rest of the album).
Here's where the fusking starts: Most digital cameras and smartphones save the pictures that you take with sequential names, i.e. IMG_001.jpg, IMG_002.jpg, IMG_003.jpg, etc. Unfortunately, that's exactly how a photo you upload to Photobucket is saved, too, in its URL: Something like http://photobucket.com/image/USERNAME/IMG_001.jpg. So, if you make available one photo from that private album, it would be exceptionally easy for anyone with access to that photo to scan through the rest, by simple guesswork.
Gawker discovered the forum on Reddit.
A couple of Sinister favorites...
By the way, if you want to learn about how to fix your Photobucket accounts, without simply deleting them, here’s a good place to start.
