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Hulk Hogan has been awarded damages of $115 million in a privacy suit against Gawker, which posted a sex tape featuring Hogan (real name: Terry G. Bollea) online:
The retired wrestler Hulk Hogan was awarded $115 million in damages on Friday by a Florida jury in an invasion of privacy case against Gawker.com over its publication of a sex tape — an astounding figure that tops the $100 million he had asked for, that will probably grow before the trial concludes, and that could send a cautionary signal to online publishers despite the likelihood of an appeal by Gawker.
The wrestler, known in court by his legal name, Terry G. Bollea, sobbed as the verdict was announced in late afternoon, according to people in the courtroom. The jury had considered the case for about six hours.
Mr. Bollea's team said the verdict represented "a statement as to the public's disgust with the invasion of privacy disguised as journalism," adding: "The verdict says, 'No more.' "
NYT also has this guide to the case.
(Score: 2) by CirclesInSand on Sunday March 20 2016, @02:03AM
There are good reasons to consider prosecuting gawker for publishing this tape. "The public doesn't need to know" isn't a good reason. It is actually very horrible to suggest that anyone should be judging what the public needs to know.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by tftp on Sunday March 20 2016, @04:17AM
It is actually very horrible to suggest that anyone should be judging what the public needs to know.
We do it all the time. Unless, of course, you live in a house with transparent walls and wear transparent clothes and give your social security number and other PII to anyone who happens to be nearby.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Sunday March 20 2016, @04:46AM
News editors do that all the time. There's only so many reporters and pages you can have, so decisions are made about the relative newsworthiness of one issue over another. The internet allows more content, but there are still limits to how much you can publish.
And yes it's a perfectly reasonable reason to set aside these kinds of junk reports they damage the relationship between celebs and the media without serving the public's interests.