The University of Wisconsin women’s volleyball team won the NCAA national title in 2021 and was a highly ranked team in 2022.
University of Wisconsin has over 47,900 students and is located in Madison, Wisconsin.
Private photos and videos of the women’s volleyball team were leaked online in October of 2022, triggering a police investigation.
Photos Leaked
In October 2022, photos from the University of Wisconsin women’s volleyball team were leaked online.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper reported that one of the images that were leaked were “taken after the team clinched the Big Ten title” in November 2021. The outlet said that in the photo “some team members can be seen posing with their sports bras lifted.”
The photos reportedly were taken from the phone of a member of the team. Photos from the Wisconsin volleyball leak were also reportedly posted to the Twitch video streaming service.
Police Notified Of Leak
On October 19 2022, University of Wisconsin Athletics released a statement revealing that UW-Madison police had been contacted about the leak.
The statement said: “We are aware that private photos and video of UW volleyball student-athletes that were never intended to be shared publicly are being circulated digitally.”
“The unauthorized sharing is a significant and wrongful invasion of the student-athletes’ privacy, including potential violations of university policies and criminal statutes.”
The athletic department said that police were investigating “multiple crimes” in connection with the leak but were not investigating the student athletes for wrongdoing.
Wisconsin Law On Photo Leaks
Wisconsin has a state law specific to locker rooms that leaks of locker room photos and videos can be punishable by up to 3.5 years in prison or extended supervision. The law applies to the exhibition, transmission or broadcast of images of nude or partially nude people in a locker room without consent.
The law was enacted in 2008 with the rise in popularity of camera phones.
One of the first political bloggers in the world, Oliver Willis has operated OliverWillis.com since 2000. Contributor at Media Matters for America and The American Independent. Follow on Twitter at @owillis. Full bio.
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