So you may remember a story we ran roughly a year ago about the up-skirt photographer at E3 2005.  That story has since been removed from the site and will not be reprinted in the future.  We apologize to those of you who were looking for it, but we've decided to remove it after receiving the following email and some careful consideration.

To those of you not familiar with the story, it involved a man visiting E3 2005 in a wheelchair, a camera and multiple compromising photographs of booth babes from the show floor.  Some of these photographs were taken from a seated position, resulting in up-skirt photos that the women involved may not have been aware were being taken.  These photographs were posted publicly on an internet forum and accompanied by some vulgar and demeaning commentary.  After seeing this post and the accompanying comments, I wrote an article naming the person responsible and asked that our readers who found that sort of behavior at a trade event unacceptable to contact the ESA and voice their opinion.  The ESA was contacted, several individuals involved were offended by the images they were included in, and various companies threatened lawsuits over the images themselves.  That all occurred approximately one year ago and the aftermath of those actions has long since played out.

While apologizing for one's actions does not negate the effect or implications they may have, we believe in giving an individual the chance to explain their actions and attempt to atone for their misdeeds.  The example has been made, the individuals involved have worked to resolve the complications that may have stemmed from these actions and another E3 has come and gone.  So it is with this email that we retire the original story and remove the names of those involved.  The lesson still stands, and personal responsibility for one's actions is still a valued topic of discussion here at xxgamers, but as far as this story goes we've reached an end note.

Posted with permission:

To xxgamers.com:

My name is Alex, the individual featured in this article you ran approximately one year ago, regarding an incident I was involved in at the 2005 E3 Exposition. Since the last time I spoke with you and my first public apology was discussed on your site, I have had over a year to reflect on my actions and their impact.

 My stupidity created a great deal of stress for everyone affected by the incident, including myself.  The blatant lack of common sense I displayed is something that I wish I could retract, yet it is an issue that I need to deal with head-on in order to fully grasp the severity of my actions.  I have taken many steps to resolve this issue to the satisfaction of all the parties included- the ESA, the gaming companies involved, and most importantly, the women, to whom I deeply apologize for offending.  In my continuing effort to put this issue to rest, I have one simple request of your publication: to kindly ask you to remove the article noted above so that I could finally close this issue for myself as well.

I thank you for your time and thank you equally for the awareness that you have helped illuminate to me. I know that if I am ever put into a similar situation, the learning experience that I have gained will without a doubt prohibit me from even pondering the idea of putting myself and others through the same ordeal ever again.

I am sorry for any hurt or anguish that my actions may have had on you, the gaming community and the women involved, and I hope you can forgive me for my utter lack of maturity and misjudgment.  Thank you for your  consideration, I look forward to any continued dialogue you would care to offer me.

Sincerely,
Alex