Over on Forbes, Kashmir Hill has written about a story covered earlier today on this blog involving The Dirty and Erin Andrews. She adds some background on the web site and its owner:
TheDirty has been sued many times before; past lawsuits include one filed by a Bengals cheerleader and one by a Texas woman — which resulted in a $1.5 million judgment. It’s possible that the site’s owner, Hooman Karamaian, just doesn’t care anymore about legal punishments anymore. Because instead of taking Andrews’s photos down, he re-posted the 22 screenshots of Andrews today, redacting the naughtiest bits with “The Dirty” logo.
The more I think about this case and privacy harm, the more I wonder whether this should be a case where the privacy harm is not just a matter for civil action but for criminal prosecution. If those who streamed video of Tyler Clementi can be charged criminally, can Karamaian be charged criminally? And if so, now would be a good time.