Today is Rihanna’s 21st birthday, which is ironic timing for a picture of her post-attack injuries to leak onto the internet. The leak of the photo was first posted HERE at TMZ yesterday, where it quickly spread to gossip sites, provoking ugly reactions by commenters and media watchdog groups.

Along with a list of sites that published the photo, writes:

Critics say running the picture humiliates Rihanna at a time when she’s already in emotional agony, that it pierces a zone of emotional and physical privacy already grossly violated in the apparent attack on her. Victims of domestic abuse and rape have long been accorded special rights in the criminal justice system; it is argued they should retain a similar degree of control if and when information escapes that system. Finally, it is lost on no one that sensational pictures like the Rihanna shot can bring profit-making publishers large amounts of traffic, opening publishers to charges of exploitation.

Even more mysterious is the photo itself, which has the LAPD launching an internal, anti-paprazzi investigation:

“The photograph has the appearance of one taken during an official domestic violence investigation. The Los Angeles Police Department takes seriously its duty to maintain the confidentiality of victims of domestic violence. A violation of this type is considered serious misconduct, with penalties up to and including termination.”

I’m not going to post the whole thing, more because you should be able to select the downers given to you on a Friday, not because I fear some sort of legal repercussion, or because I don’t want to debate how one’s personal privacy is altered with the decision to become a celebrity. If you want to see it, click the sad eye banner.