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Lawsuit: Fox News Group Hacked, Surveilled, and Stalked Ex-Host Andrea Tantaros (arstechnica.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the black-room dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Comparing their actions to the plot this season on the Showtime series Homeland, an attorney for former Fox News host Andrea Tantaros has filed a complaint in federal court against Fox News, current and former Fox executives, Peter Snyder and his financial firm Disruptor Inc., and 50 "John Doe" defendants. The suit alleges that collective participated in a hacking and surveillance campaign against her. Tantaros filed a sexual harassment suit against Roger Ailes and Fox News in August of 2016, after filing internal complaints with the company about harassment dating back to February of 2015. She was fired by the network in April of 2016, as Tantaros continued to press complaints against Fox News' then-Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes, Bill O'Reilly, and others. Tantaros had informed Fox that she would be filing a lawsuit over the alleged sexual harassment. Tantaros claims that as early as February of 2015, a group run out of a "black room" at Fox News engaged in surveillance and electronic harassment of her, including the use of "sock puppet" social media accounts to electronically stalk her. Tantaros' suit identifies Peter Snyder and Disruptor Inc. as the operators of a social influence operation using "sock puppet" accounts on Twitter and other social media.

17 of 100 comments (clear)

  1. Electronic stalking by 110010001000 · · Score: 2

    Is electronic stalking illegal?

    1. Re:Electronic stalking by quantaman · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Is electronic stalking illegal?

      If it's persistent and outrageous enough it can be harassment. But this stalking was done by Fox News while she was suing them, and the accounts were used to disseminate private information obtained through illegal hacking. If it can be proven I suspect a Judge will find something very illegal was going on.

      --
      I stole this Sig
    2. Re:Electronic stalking by rgmoore · · Score: 4, Informative

      Retaliation for various kinds of employee whistleblowing, including complaints about sexual harassment, is illegal. If they really were electronically stalking her as retaliation for her sexual harassment complaint, that would be grounds for a lawsuit even if the same actions would otherwise be perfectly legal.

      --

      There's no point in questioning authority if you aren't going to listen to the answers.

    3. Re:Electronic stalking by squiggleslash · · Score: 2

      Numerous court cases have set the precedent that "I did it on the Internet so it's not illegal" isn't usually a defense.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  2. 'sock puppet' in scare quotes? by Maritz · · Score: 2, Funny

    Everyone on slashdot should be familiar with sock puppets.

    --
    I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    1. Re:'sock puppet' in scare quotes? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      You're so right buddy also you're awesome BTW.

  3. Proof of how long since I've watched FNC by Nutria · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I have no idea who Andrea Tantaros is.

    --
    "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
  4. Re:OT - but why are comments bunched up on the lef by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 2

    I've seen this problem only on my iPhone. Not seeing it on the PC.

  5. Why is this even on Slashdot? by JustNiz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why is this even on Slashdot?

    1. Re:Why is this even on Slashdot? by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 2

      I have a question too- why does this same stupid comment get posted in every story on Slashdot?

  6. Quote slang, jargon, unusual words, weird context by raymorris · · Score: 4, Informative

    Quotation marks are also used for slang, jargon, and similar unusual words, including ordinary words used for an unusual meaning, in a context in which the reader may be unfamiliar with the meaning. In this usage, quotes take the place of the phrase "what is called". Essentially you're quoting a group, rather than a person.

    For example, a newspaper article written for the general public, one might write "he met up with his 'homeboy' or "Intel's Pentium computer processors had a bug in the 'floating point unit', the part of the processor which handles fractions."

    http://www.writingwithclarity....

    http://blog.apastyle.org/apast...

  7. Unprecedented by Fire_Wraith · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is completely shocking. Who would have thought that a subsidiary of News Corporation would stoop to something like hacking and electronic surveillance? /s

  8. Like grandpa used to say: by hey! · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You lie down with dogs and you get up with fleas.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    1. Re:Like grandpa used to say: by eyepeepackets · · Score: 2

      She agrees to go to work for known scumbags and then complains when she gets scumbaggered. Grandpa was right: Fleas.

      --
      Everything in the Universe sucks: It's the law!
  9. *gets popcorn* by ilsaloving · · Score: 3, Funny

    It appears Fox is unravelling at the seams.

    Apparently some wishes do come true.

    1. Re:*gets popcorn* by squiggleslash · · Score: 2

      As long as there's a market for right wing nonsense, there'll always be something like Fox News. If it really does crash and burn, expect Brietbart TV or Stormfront Vision to take its place.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  10. "Good by" then. by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This new "SJW" term seems to follow some strange grammatical rules- for example, it can only appear in conjunction with spelling mistakes.