Erin Andrews Peephole Video: What Women (and Men) Can Learn from This Video Outrage

Erin Andrews is not a porn star. At least, not by choice. Prior to last week, she was just a dazzling reporter for ESPN. That all changed over the weekend, when a peeping Tom captured footage of Erin Andrews undressing in her hotel room - without her consent or knowledge. What he did with the video gave his fellow voyeurs a weekend of unquenched curiosity -- and a lot of viruses.

How exactly did this pervert get a hold of Erin Andrews' footage? Word has it he took video right through her hotel peephole, which you wouldn't ordinarily think would translate into a high quality render by the time all was said and done. But evidently, enough people thought it would, because searches for "Erin Andrews peephole video link" surged to the top of Google searches this weekend.

For the record, I don't recommend clicking on any video results for the above search. Perverts all over the world learned a lesson in poor quality porn when they tried doing just that. Hackers and copycats immediately put up sites mimicking CNN and similar news sources claiming to have video links to Erin Andrews undressing in her hotel. When surfers clicked to play the video, a popup showed up instructing viewers to download a different video player to see the video. Was it a video player?

Far from it. Thousands of viewers downloaded Trojan viruses onto their computers instead of video players, leaving a red-handed stamp on what they had tried to view so seemingly innocently.

There were enough true links to the video early on in the weekend, evidently, that ESPN's legal team and Erin Andrews' lawyer stepped in to put a stop to the video getting around. But by Sunday, most sites handed out virus links, and real links from sources decent enough to remove them (but not decent enough to resist temptation in putting them up, apparently) were taken down.

So what can you learn from Erin Andrews' video disaster? Never dress and undress in front of hotel peepholes or open hotel windows. If there are no shades on the windows, dress in the bathroom, and tape a piece of paper over the peephole if necessary. At some hotels, it's possible to see into the peephole just as well as you can see out of it.

Secondly, always check to see if mirrors in dressing rooms or hotel rooms are two-way. You can tell this by sticking your finger against the glass. If the reflection touches your finger, you know it's two-way and there's someone looking on the other side of it. If it's one-way, there will be a gap between your finger's reflection and your finger itself.

Also, make sure the web cam on your laptop is turned off and covered, either with black tape or a thick, dark cover, as hackers can turn the camera on and record anything in view when you least expect it.

Like all scandals, the Erin Andrews peephole video debacle will die down as quickly as it arrived, but this one was undeserved, unlike so many other degrading hotel affairs we've seen in the news involving politicians. But like any scandal, it's likely to leave a little scar on the face of her career, one that she had nothing to do with. Maybe next time ESPN should send her with some backup.

Sources:
http://www.examiner.com/x-14795-Page-One-Examiner~y2009m7d20-Erin-Andrews-peephole-video-link

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/07/20/2009-07-20_hackers_create_links_to_naked_footage_of_espn_reporter_erin_andrews_results_in_d.html