Lawrence Lessig Sues New York Times over MIT and Jeffrey Epstein Interview

theverge.com

22 pointsCrazedGeek4 comments

Kinda has hints of O. J. Simpson’s “If I Did It”, with a “having it both ways” finish.

It has always been the case that a paper will headline a damning take. Fact is, best I can tell from the interview and his words after, he did say such a thing, and I’m having difficulty even trying to imagine how it was taken out of context. That’s a live bomb, and you just don’t touch it. “We should have never taken that money” and then shut up.

Sounds to me like Lessig said "We shouldn't have done A, you shouldn't do A. But if you do do A, do B.", and the NYT turned around with the headline "Lessig advocates for A and B".

The NYT’s headline literally contains the conditional used by Lessig: “If You Take Epstein’s Money, Do It in Secret”

How will this victory determine use/abuse of social media as an smear operation/rumors campaign mechanism?

Case in point: There are multiple twitter threads going around politicians saying things, but either recanting those later or being taken out of context.

A tweet doesn't do the justice. If Lessig wins it might help to lay the groundwork for some more nuanced digital ethics.

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