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Naughty Internet pics haunt Kate Middleton's brother

It hasn't even been a week since Prince William married Kate Middleton, yet there are already some slightly embarrassing details coming out about his new in-laws — such as the hopeless fight between Kate's brother, James, and various websites that have posted naughty photos from his wilder days.One of those sites is Fleshbot — the very not-safe-for-work sister site of gossip-blog Gawker —
epa02708554 Britain's Prince Harry (C) and the bride's sister Pippa Middleton and brother James Middleton on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in London, Britain, 29 April 2011, after the wedding ceremony of Prince William and Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey.  EPA/PETER KNEFFEL
epa02708554 Britain's Prince Harry (C) and the bride's sister Pippa Middleton and brother James Middleton on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in London, Britain, 29 April 2011, after the wedding ceremony of Prince William and Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey. EPA/PETER KNEFFELPETER KNEFFEL / Today

It hasn't even been a week since Prince William married Kate Middleton, yet there are already some slightly embarrassing details coming out about his new in-laws — such as the hopeless fight between Kate's brother, James, and various websites that have posted naughty photos from his wilder days.

One of those sites is Fleshbot — the very not-safe-for-work sister site of gossip-blog Gawker — and it isn't shy about revealing the details of its interaction with James Middleton, his potentially imaginary lawyer, and a high-end bakery.

Apparently Fleshbot received a series of emails originating from a cake company — has connections to the Middletons — and someone claiming to be James Middleton's legal representation after it posted several naughty images of the man.

It's worth noting that Fleshbot made it a point to explain that the photos it posted have apparently been floating around the Internet for quite some time, but "maintained a relatively low profile since Kate Middleton hadn't really caught public fancy (at least in America) until the recent build up to her wedding with Prince William." Those particular details didn't seem to matter to Middleton or his lawyer — who Gawker suggests is not even real:

The first email Fleshbot received requesting the images be taken down was from someone named James at the Cake Kit Company, Middleton's very real high end bakery that furnished cakes for the Royal Wedding. The second email that came in was from the "NICE GROUP LONDON LEGAL" with the reply address james@nicelawyer.co.uk. But if you visit the "Nice Lawyer" website, there's nothing there save for a placeholder homepage. How curious.

Well, we looked up just who owns the domain and it appears it's registered to none other than James Middleton of the Cake Kit Company, and he purchased the domain less than a month ago. So, let's get this straight: Rather than James actually hiring a lawyer to do his dirty work—or erase his dirty work from the internet—he's posing as a lawyer with a fake law firm email address? Seems like it.

And this isn't the first time he—or someone with access to the domain name—has tried the same tactic. He did it to at least one other website that posted what we assume are the same or similar pictures a few weeks ago.

There are no details on whether there was further interaction between Fleshbot or Gawker and James Middleton. There is simply a sad reality check for the man-who-couldn't-resist-photographing-his-derierre:

Sorry, James, but you can't scrub incriminating photos from the web, and if you really want to try, well you better start off by hiring a real lawyer.

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Rosa Golijan writes about tech here and there. She's a bit obsessed with Twitter and loves to be liked on Facebook.