Naked in the window, news photographers turn away

I keep seeing news about the new Standard Hotel in New York City, which apparently advertised its grand opening with racey advertisements encouraging patrons to take advantage of its floor-to-ceiling windows. "We encourage you to exercise your inner exhibitionist," the hotel's Facebook page reportedly says. "Please share your intimate, and explicit photos with us—those floor to ceiling windows aren’t just for the views . . ." And on their website--at least for a while: "Whatever you do, just make sure the shots are HOT and that you get them to us in whichever way you can. It's all about sex all the time, and you're our star."

Now people have taken the hotel up on its suggestion, showing off in front of the windows, both alone and with each other, even filming porn shoots in full view of passers-by looking on from below, some in bemusement and others in shock. And now the hotel vows to try to encourage visitors to keep their curtains closed. Good luck getting that genie back in the bottle!

But here's the part I find interesting. Dozens of people have shown off in front of the windows, with no concern about being seen. Hundreds of people have seen them. But there doesn't appear to be more than a single uncensored photo anywhere on the Internet. You can find plenty of places with pictures that tease with strategic pixelation in the nether regions. The photo with this post is from the purple DIARY blog and, as you can see, was taken from within the hotel.

So, given a medium like the Internet that allows people to self-regulate, to see naked pictures if they want to and to not see naked pictures if they don't want to, why aren't news websites offering the option of seeing what all the fuss is about?