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Thiel shows why tech billionaires are the new robber barons

reuters.com

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Re: Thiel shows why tech billionaires are the new robber barons

#61

Post by Teeboo »

Xylakant wrote: post #34
bko wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are more leaked sex tapes used for commercial purposes in the public interest?

Nobody pretended so - which is the whole point. Thiel could have given his money to a foundation that openly sponsors lawsuits for media victioms. That would haven been for the public good. Instead he chose to sponsor the lawsuit (and other lawsuits) against gawker in secret because he feels wronged by them with the intent of punishing them. And that's not in the public interest because it can be considered a form of…

Cannot agree.

Legal precedent is legal precedent regardless of who brings the case or their stature. Thiel going in via the Hogan case is still public interest.

Re: Thiel shows why tech billionaires are the new robber barons

#62

Post by maxerickson »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #52
byuu wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funding a secret lawsuit against a company to try and destroy them for outing you as being gay is not good behavior. This has dangerous precedent for freedom of speech in journalism. If what Gawker did was illegal in outing him, he should have sued for that. If it were just morally objectionable, he should have called them on it and let the public decide how to respond. What this lawsuit says is, "say something about…

Do you believe it was wrong for rich people to fund (via the Southern Poverty Law Center intermediary) Keenan vs Aryan Nations, on the basis of hating Aryan Nations? https://www.splcenter.org/seeking-justice/case-docket/keenan... If not, why not?

I bet it would be way less controversial if it came out that Thiel was openly funding an independent group that was focused on ethics in web journalism.

Re: Thiel shows why tech billionaires are the new robber barons

#63

Post by madgar »

koolba wrote: post #41
Kristine1975 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>These articles attacking Thiel framed as billionaire versus journalists doesn't even mention this fact. This one does though: >As for Gawker, it disseminated a sex tape of a retired pro wrestler. Let’s not pretend that the website did it as part of a great journalistic mission. Gawker did it to lure eyes to its website while smugly saying the First Amendment sheltered it. The author's beef isn't with Thiel using his…

> The author's beef isn't with Thiel using his money to help sue Gawker, but with him considering this to be philanthropic: >> The problem isn’t the way Thiel used his money. It’s his pretensions about it. But it is philanthropic, it just doesn't align with the author's idea of philanthropy.

Just like how it's philanthropic if I tape bum fights and make them freely available on YouTube.

Re: Thiel shows why tech billionaires are the new robber barons

#64

Post by frankc »

venomsnake wrote: post #39
EddieSpeaks wrote: post #30

Gawker is utter shite and it's a dangerous tabloid. I have no idea why anyone with a sane mind would be on their side in this issue. this is just a revenge story, let it go!

Because I am free speech absolutist which means defending speech that I don't like. There were other ways to nail gawker - copyright infringement comes to mind.

Gawker was allowed to say whatever they wanted about the sex tape. No one has ever questioned that. They were not allowed to publish it. That is what they were sued over. I'm pretty absolutionist about free speech myself, which is why it's pretty disappointing that a lot of people are missing this key point.

Re: Thiel shows why tech billionaires are the new robber barons

#65

Post by Teeboo »

devishard wrote: post #46

The fundamental issue here is that rich people can buy the law. It's not as simple as bribery, but it's nearly as effective. The only defense we have against that is when voters and jurors are educated and deeply suspicious of laws and litigation that are bought. Of course what Gawker did was reprehensible, but I don't need a million-dollar lawyer to tell me that. And when suddenly there is a million-dollar lawyer te…

...if your premise is true then it is a damning indictment of Gawker. Not Thiel.

This issue has been covered in detail. Hogan did not have the financial resources to combat the Gawker legal machine, funded from the company coffers.

It took Thiel and his larger coffers to come along and upset their apple cart.

So, if a rich person did buy the legal precedent, it was only until a richer person came along and restored sanity and parity to the system.

Re: Thiel shows why tech billionaires are the new robber barons

#66

Post by whatok »

devishard wrote: post #46

The fundamental issue here is that rich people can buy the law. It's not as simple as bribery, but it's nearly as effective. The only defense we have against that is when voters and jurors are educated and deeply suspicious of laws and litigation that are bought. Of course what Gawker did was reprehensible, but I don't need a million-dollar lawyer to tell me that. And when suddenly there is a million-dollar lawyer te…

Let's say the girl in this video [0] decided to sue Gawker. I'm going to just assume that she doesn't have the means to stand up to their army of lawyers. Is Gawker the rich person buying the law in this hypothetical?

[0] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3488027/Gawker-edito...

Re: Thiel shows why tech billionaires are the new robber barons

#68

Post by Eric_WVGG »

TheCondor wrote: post #60
mukmuk wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am also somewhat uncomfortable that his sponsorship was kept secret for so long, and that it easily could have stayed secret indefinitely.

Why does that matter?

because then we would be more ignorant of how the world was operating.

(Clearly you care or you wouldn't have wound up in this thread.)

Re: Thiel shows why tech billionaires are the new robber barons

#69

Post by bko »

threatofrain wrote: post #28
bko wrote: post #17

> Litigation finance is typically a business venture. It doesn’t become charity because a wealthy person uses it as a template for a personal crusade and then insists he’s doing everyone else a favor. Why? Many cases brought by individuals or groups on moral grounds have led the way to better governance. A lot of good work has been done by groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Why should individuals or g…

I don't think the problem is the fact that Peter Thiel tossed money in the direction of a lawsuit. The issue is that money matters in justice, and that Peter Thiel coincidentally put his money somewhere did not make this so. People are focusing shame on Peter Thiel today but that's the wrong place. There will always be rich people.

Of course money matters in justice, as it matters with everything else. I can't imagine a system in which it doesn't matter. Perhaps if the Bar Association cartel was broken, lawyers would be less expensive, but there needs to be a kind of mechanism to allocate the judicial resources of the state.

Re: Thiel shows why tech billionaires are the new robber barons

#70

Post by themartorana »

madgar wrote: post #63
koolba wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The author's beef isn't with Thiel using his money to help sue Gawker, but with him considering this to be philanthropic: >> The problem isn’t the way Thiel used his money. It’s his pretensions about it. But it is philanthropic, it just doesn't align with the author's idea of philanthropy.

Just like how it's philanthropic if I tape bum fights and make them freely available on YouTube.

Except in Thiel's case, there seems to be a strong concurrence of moral justice behind him. Your example would get none of that.

Philanthropy assumes a common/public good.

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