
Harvey Weinstein's Army of Spies - danso
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/harvey-weinsteins-army-of-spies
======
mycroftiv
An amazing expose of the tools available to the rich and powerful to suppress
the truth and get away with morally monstrous behavior. Remember that an
individual like Harvey Weinstein represents the tiny tip of an iceberg of
reprehensible abuse of power. If a Hollywood producer makes use of these kind
of techniques, imagine what is possible for the heads of large corporations
and the leaders of corrupt nation states.

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bognition
> He began to hire private security agencies to collect information on the
> women and the journalists trying to expose the allegations ... One of the
> investigators pretended to be a women’s-rights advocate and secretly
> recorded at least four meetings with McGowan

This goes way beyond simple work place harassment. This is a predator taking
advantage of his position of power to prey on others. Its reprehensible and
deserve jail time.

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tyingq
Thankfully, this strategy didn't work. I wonder how often it does though.

~~~
maxerickson
Such tactics apparently worked for decades.

~~~
tyingq
I've read more than a few times lawyers claiming that "fixers" like the
fictional "Ray Donovan" and "Michael Clayton" don't exist. This story seems to
say they do.

~~~
mrguyorama
They're called "Public relation firms"

~~~
tyingq
In this case it was apparently a law firm.

------
Steko
> As recently as Friday, the firm had a bare-bones Web site, with stock photos
> and generic text passages about asset management and an initiative called
> Women in Focus

Too bad there’s no Oscar for Best Inadvertent Lampshading of a Covert Smear
Campaign.

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Natsu
> Techniques like the ones used by the agencies on Weinstein’s behalf are
> almost always kept secret, and, because such relationships are often run
> through law firms, the investigations are theoretically protected by
> attorney-client privilege, which could prevent them from being disclosed in
> court. The documents and sources reveal the tools and tactics available to
> powerful individuals to suppress negative stories and, in some cases,
> forestall criminal investigations.

Reading this makes me think that we need new ethics rules for lawyers and ways
to force disclosure of this kind of thing.

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Geekette
The story is rife with examples of egregious acts, from Weinstein's
investigators interviewing and secretly recording victims under false
identities to lawyer David Boies directing a PI firm to help stop a report on
Weinstein that was being produced by NYT, a client of his own firm (Boies
Schiller Flexner)!

And the story apparently isn't over as journalist said in a TV interview that
there's more reporting to come.

------
Steko
Flagged into oblivion by the self-appointed thread police.

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nihonde
It seems like a miserable way to enjoy your good fortunes in life. I'm sure
many successful people can't get out of their own way, and this is just
another case of never being satisfied.

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secfirstmd
Happens a lot to human rights orgs and NGOs also

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cm2012
Disgusting. If he doesn't go to jail, vigilante action would be justified.

~~~
hfern
Vigilante justice is an affront to the rule of law and is never justified.
Even in heinous crime such as those committed by Weinstein.

~~~
tyingq
Bracing for downvotes, but surely somebody has some unflattering nude shots of
Harvey somewhere. Wouldn't be terrible (well, in some ways) if those surfaced.

~~~
jgowdy
I’m always amazed how quickly most people’s principles go right out the window
the moment they’re angry. Publishing unauthorized nude photos is wrong,
period. Doesn’t matter what a piece of shit he’s accused of being. He deserves
prison if he’s guilty of these criminal acts. With the number of instances he
would reasonably spend the rest of his natural life in prison, after being
duly convicted. That’s what’s right, and that’s justice.

~~~
maxerickson
Simple explanation is that most people don't have principles.

~~~
interfixus
Simpler and probably better explanation: We don't all have principles neatly
aligned.

Your _principle going out the window_ may be me _expressing a deeply held
opinion_.

~~~
maxerickson
Well, I would agree that many people treat self interest as a principle. I
don't think many people have principles beyond that though.

Maybe mild preferences.

~~~
interfixus
Most people I know have fairly decent work ethics, standards how to treat
other people, honesty up to a point.

Not that I don't share a large part of your cynicism.

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uptownfunk
What does this have to do with hacker news?

~~~
danso
How the rich and powerful use spies and private investigators to track people
seems to overlap with topics of interest to HN IMO. Just because it happens to
also involve someone in mainstream news headlines doesn't make it less
noteworthy.

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vowelless
Seriously, not relevant here on HN, guys.

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RickJWag
Of course Weinstein had Al Gore's lawyer.

He also took sheets straight from the Clinton handbook.

It's time to de-politicize sexism. I await the day when Hollywood celebrities
rush to loudly criticize every Republican slimebag on the planet. And _also_
every Democrat slimebag.

Only then will progress be made.

