Barbara Streisand is an Information Security ambassador

"The Streisand Effect" is when the intention to remove or censor information has the unintended consequence of publicising the data to a greater audience.  The name was coined when Barbara Streisand's attempts to remove aerial photography of her home from a website drew more publicity.

Why was Barbara Streisand's house being publicised on the internet?
It was not her house being publicised, rather it was an article highlighting coastal erosion on the Californian coast and images of her property was in one of the photos.  Barbara Streisand started a lawsuit to sue the website and the photographer.  However, in filing the lawsuit Barbara Streisand had to specify which of the 10,000+ photos "invaded her privacy".  That one photo which featured her home was reposted on hundreds of websites and viewed hundred-of-thousand times the following month.  The case was dismissed.

Who else has been affected by "the Streisand effect"?

Hollywood: Hollywood tried to prevent people from using a code which allows movie fans to copy movies.  Movie fans had other novel ideas like writing songs about it and publishing the code on tee-shirts.

The Interview: A film about assassinating the North Korean dictator.  There was little hype about this film until North Korea threatened Columbia Pictures (the film's distributors).  The film has now become Sony’s biggest online movie of all time (not bad for a film which received mixed reviews).

Is this new?
No.  Up until the 1990s it was easy for individuals, organisations and governments to suppress information but with the growth of the internet and internet user’s sharing information via different platforms it is difficult to suppress information as people are downloading and sharing information easier

What are the lessons to be learnt?

If you want something to become popular on the internet, ask someone to censor you!

Seriously, if someone has written or posted a picture that you are unhappy about you should do a risk assessment (ask yourself: how many people have seen this picture/post now?  If I make a fuss will it cause me greater embarrassment and harm than I have already suffered?).  The best way to avoid this situation arising in the first instance is to avoid placing yourself in compromising situations.