I hope Jalopnik survives largely intact. It's one of the better/more entertaining general car sites put there.
Gawker Files for Bankruptcy, Will Be Put Up for Auction
121–130 of 566 posts
Re: Gawker Files for Bankruptcy, Will Be Put Up for Auction
#122Gawker may have been terrible, but we should all be a bit concerned at the precedent this sets. It's sort of like defending the free speech of terrible groups like the KKK. We do it because we treasure free speech, not because we support the KKK. I generally have positive feelings about Thiel, but his actions here make me very uneasy. I worry that the aristocracy will now use this method to try and close down unfavor…
"Precedent this sets"? I think "Don't publish a illegally made video of people in a private moment or ignore court orders to take down the video." to be a rather positive precedent, don't you? That's the sort of chilling effect on media we should all be applauding. Thief merely funded a court battle that had merit (in this case, quite a lot of merit) that Bollea probably could have won on his own. I fail to see what…
It wasnt illegally made, it wasnt stolen, it was in the public interest (hogan is a very public figure, and has gone on at length about being faithful, not cheating, loose morals of young people).
So... Reporting on that seems like actual information that should be public? Compare to the pamela anderson tape, which was with her husband, was literally /stolen from their home/, and was sold for profit. Judge ruled that there wasnt anythig they could do.
Meanwhile, Thiel who was using hogan as a proxy has literally just demonstrated that you cant afford to post opinion pieces about tech billionaires and their occassionally delusional comments about how people should behave.
Re: Gawker Files for Bankruptcy, Will Be Put Up for Auction
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
The issue I have with it is that money from an external source that had nothing to do with the suit was funnelled in to use it as a weapon. Thiel had an issue with Gawker, Thiel should have taken it to Gawker.
The issue I have with it is that money from an external source that had nothing to do with the suit was funnelled in This is incredibly common, e.g. it's basically the entire job description of the ACLU. Why is it different in this case?
Because the ACLU does it in the open, rather than in secret?
Re: Gawker Files for Bankruptcy, Will Be Put Up for Auction
#124And nothing of value was lost.
A billionaire used his money and influence to destroy an organization because he doesn't agree with what they say. I can think of at least one thing of value that was lost.
The real issue is that money shouldn't play as much a role in court as it does. Many other problems discussed here like billionaires buying influence are really just corollaries to that.
Re: Gawker Files for Bankruptcy, Will Be Put Up for Auction
#125Gawker may have been terrible, but we should all be a bit concerned at the precedent this sets. It's sort of like defending the free speech of terrible groups like the KKK. We do it because we treasure free speech, not because we support the KKK. I generally have positive feelings about Thiel, but his actions here make me very uneasy. I worry that the aristocracy will now use this method to try and close down unfavor…
>It's sort of like defending the free speech of terrible groups like the KKK.
There is a difference between protecting a group from being silenced by the Government and holding a private company liable when they release a sex tape under the pretense of freedom of speech/freedom of the press.
>I believe this will have a chilling effect on the media in the US.
As well it should...its not exactly a slippery slope: sex tapes don't become newsworthy just because the subject is a celebrity.
Re: Gawker Files for Bankruptcy, Will Be Put Up for Auction
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you suggesting the Hogan suit was groundless?
The issue I have with it is that money from an external source that had nothing to do with the suit was funnelled in to use it as a weapon. Thiel had an issue with Gawker, Thiel should have taken it to Gawker.
So how do you propose preventing that without outlawing, for example, the ACLU, NAACP, etc.?
Re: Gawker Files for Bankruptcy, Will Be Put Up for Auction
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
what precedent? that if you say something, you stand by the consequences, financial and all? that people take responsibility for what they say is not a new development. new journals are free to start up and take the place of gawker. nothing here stops them from doing so.
I think the precedent OP is concerned about is not about Hogan specifically. Thiel probably doesn't give a shit about Hogan's sex tape. He probably dislikes Gawker for other reasons (maybe general tone or content, or maybe something specific in a particular article by one of Gawker's subproperties; who knows?), but he took advantage of the opportunity the Hogan case provided to eliminate a media outlet. The problem i…
I've heard Thiel holds a grudge against Gawker for having outed him without his consent; the latter certainly happened [1], the former I wouldn't know how to confirm.
[1] http://gawker.com/335894/peter-thiel-is-totally-gay-people
Re: Gawker Files for Bankruptcy, Will Be Put Up for Auction
#128Sad in a way. AFAIK, Gawker is not only one of the few independent online media companies (VICE/Vox/BuzzFeed/BusinessInsider are heavily funded/owned by massive media conglomerates), it was one of the few media companies period making a healthy profit: http://www.politico.com/media/story/2016/06/gawkers-pre-hoga... > The company’s revenue had grown from about $5.3 million in 2006 to $43.8 million in 2014. It was cons…
I find it kind of perverse to champion a company based solely on their profitability. Gawker was a profitable media company because they were one of the the only ones debased enough to resort to muckraking for their tasteless, voyeuristic audiences. Good riddance, I say.
Yeah, there were definitely other instances of lines being crossed, but for which Gawker would not have been sued, because the subjects didn't have Hogan's celebrity (or Thiel's backing): http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3488027/Gawker-edito...
As much great journalism Gawker has produced, we can't ignore that such work was mostly loss-leaders, and not likely what drove its revenue and popularity. The decision to post the Hogan video was just a symptom of that culture, albeit a fatal symptom.
Re: Gawker Files for Bankruptcy, Will Be Put Up for Auction
#129Gawker may have been terrible, but we should all be a bit concerned at the precedent this sets. It's sort of like defending the free speech of terrible groups like the KKK. We do it because we treasure free speech, not because we support the KKK. I generally have positive feelings about Thiel, but his actions here make me very uneasy. I worry that the aristocracy will now use this method to try and close down unfavor…
"Precedent this sets"? I think "Don't publish a illegally made video of people in a private moment or ignore court orders to take down the video." to be a rather positive precedent, don't you? That's the sort of chilling effect on media we should all be applauding. Thief merely funded a court battle that had merit (in this case, quite a lot of merit) that Bollea probably could have won on his own. I fail to see what…
I don't sympathize, but it does reek of "jackpot justice". That's a horrible thing to do, but is it so horrible as to warrant an effective "death penalty" for any company that does it once?
And what about all the other people that were the victims of such an invasion of privacy, but didn't get a reward big enough to retire on thirty times over?
The core problem is that the "justice" system is so capricious that only a few victims get made whole, and when they do, it's bizarrely over the top.
Re: Gawker Files for Bankruptcy, Will Be Put Up for Auction
#130Gawker may have been terrible, but we should all be a bit concerned at the precedent this sets. It's sort of like defending the free speech of terrible groups like the KKK. We do it because we treasure free speech, not because we support the KKK. I generally have positive feelings about Thiel, but his actions here make me very uneasy. I worry that the aristocracy will now use this method to try and close down unfavor…
"Precedent this sets"? I think "Don't publish a illegally made video of people in a private moment or ignore court orders to take down the video." to be a rather positive precedent, don't you? That's the sort of chilling effect on media we should all be applauding. Thief merely funded a court battle that had merit (in this case, quite a lot of merit) that Bollea probably could have won on his own. I fail to see what…
Everything you're saying is entirely true however the normal mechanisms that would have protected Gawker were skirted here. They structured lawsuits perfectly so that insurance never kicked in.
Should the company be penalized? Most definitely. Was it worth shutting an otherwise okay running business? Questionably.