Just two months ago, a jury of the State of Florida, USA ruled in favor of the known professional wrestler and actor Hulk Hogan in his legal dispute against news website Gawker .
The reason for the lawsuit was a video posted by the portal entertainment in 2012 in which the wrestler whose birth name is Terry Gene Bollea- aparecíamanteniendo sex with the wife of a friend.
Gawker said the pornographic video was worthy of publication, as the fighter is a public person and “chose to expose his private life for public consumption.”
But the exluchador the win and with it a compensation which eventually amounted to US $ 140 million.
and now Pether -cofundador Thiel PayPal and one of the first investors Facebook- just announced secretly querespaldó Hogan with no less than US $ 10 million.
But why the interest of Thiel in ending this website?
the case has transcended the courts and has become an intense sobrela discussion freedom of expression and the power of technology companies in Silicon Valley.
“It raises questions about freedom of expression in the digital age,” says financial BBC journalist Tom Espiner.
WAR ILLEGAL
Thiel says that the reasons that prompted him to support the demand for Hogan back to an article that appeared enValleyMag-a gossip blog on Silicon Valley belonging to Gawker – almost a decade
The article, published in 2007, was titled ago, “Peter Thiel is totally gay”
ValleyMag also published several stories on Facebook. that highlighted the fortunes of Thiel, who also is a board member of the board of the social network.
and, according to Thiel, articles site entertainment and celebrity “ruined life people for no reason “.
the Silicon Valley entrepreneur funded a team of lawyers to seek out and help other” victims “of Gawker and bring the website to bankruptcy.
“not so much about revenge, but a specific deterrence,” he told Thiel told the New York Times, ensuring that it was a project “philanthropic”.
According to Thiel, articles it was “very painful and crippling for those affected” and therefore thought that “was worth fight”.
it was the business magazine Forbes who brought to light Tuesday the secret campaign of Peter Thiel, who He defended himself saying that a friend convinced him by saying that “if I did it, no one else would.”
“mASSIVE VIOLATIONS tO PRIVACY”
Thiel is an entrepreneur recognized in the world of technology and fortunes rose dramatically when eBay bought PayPal in 2002.
But ironically, Thiel also donates money to one of the main institutions of press freedom in the world: the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ, for its acronym in English)
Although not consider that their actions are contradictory. “I refuse to believe that the journalism means massive privacy violations, “he said.
” I have a much higher opinion of journalists. And precisely because I respect them, I do not think it poses a danger to them someone to answer Gawker “.
” REVENGE AND COLD ANÓNIMA “
the website response was swift.
a day after the publication of the interview cofounder of PayPal in the American newspaper, Gawker emitióuna extensive “open Letter to Peter Thiel,” signed by its director, Nick Denton.
Denton begins his article by noting that since the publication of the article about homosexuality Thiel, the fortunes of this has not stopped growing.
the owner of Gawker argues that media attention Silicon Valley is “a relatively recent phenomenon” and speaks of a world “enough uncomfortable because of the endless power of the billionaires, the accumulation of wealth in Silicon Valley and the influence of technology in the media “.
” you admit you’ve spent years planning revenge for Gawker and writers, and so far you have spent US $ 10 million to fund a lawsuit against the company, “he writes Denton to Thiel.
” your vengeance has been served well, and cold (up now) anonymous “.
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