Susanna Gibson, a Democrat running in one of seven tossup House seats in the closely divided legislature, denounced the “illegal invasion of my privacy.”

A Democratic candidate in a crucial race for the Virginia General Assembly denounced reports on Monday that she and her husband had performed live on a sexually explicit streaming site.

Susanna Gibson, a nurse practitioner running in her first election cycle, said in a statement that the leaks about the online activity were “an illegal invasion of my privacy designed to humiliate me and my family.”

The Washington Post and The Associated Press reported on Monday that tapes of live-streamed sexual activity had been recorded from a pornographic site and archived on another site. The New York Times has not independently verified the content of the videos. The Democratic Party of Virginia did not respond to a request for comment.

Ms. Gibson, 40, who appears on her campaign website in hospital scrubs as well as at home with her husband and two young children, is running for the House of Delegates in one of only a handful of competitive races that will determine control of the General Assembly. Republicans hold a slim majority in the House, and Democrats narrowly control the State Senate, but both chambers are up for grabs in November.

    • Blackbeard@lemmy.worldM
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      1 year ago

      They’ve already been removed from recurbate, so presumably her team is searching for the alternatives today. They’re not at all difficult to find, and given that it was consensual and posted to the internet by her and her husband, I find it highly unlikely a judge will rule that it’s revenge porn, which requires that the third party “disseminate or sell” the material. All they did was tip off the press, who also didn’t disseminate or sell the videos. Also the servers they’re located on now are probably foreign.

      • Jordan Lund@lemmy.one
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        1 year ago

        I think that’s the problem, it wasn’t posted by her or her husband.

        She and her husband were streaming on Chaturbate. Someone archived the videos.

        A month after she announced her candidacy, someone took the archived copies and uploaded them.

        A little different than if she or her husband did it themselves or if it were automatic. The timing seems retributive.

      • utopianfiat@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Please explain the difference between dissemination of information and “tipping off” someone about that information

        • Blackbeard@lemmy.worldM
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          1 year ago

          “I find it highly unlikely” should have been the operative phrase that gave away the fact that I’m not a judge or prosecutor, so my definition doesn’t really hold water in a court of law. Morehead v. Commonwealth of Virginia gives more information on what qualifies as “dissemination”, if you’re curious. The long and the short of it is that the offending husband actually uploaded images to a website, which completes the “widespread communication” process. Furthermore, chaturbate’s own privacy policy says, “all information and content you determine to share or stream through the Platform, including in ‘private’ and/or password protected situations, is considered public information”.

          The sex was consensual, their faces were clearly visible, and the videos were uploaded willingly to a publicly accessible site by Ms. Gibson where she agreed that said content would be deemed public information. Seems pretty cut and dry to me.

        • Bloxlord@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          In this case dissemination would be a third party posting the video without her consent. “Tipping off” someone about that information is equivalent to sharing a video found online.

        • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          “such and such purposefully uploaded this content to this site using their known profile” is not dissemination.

      • utopianfiat@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        It’s nude images nonconsensually disseminated for the purpose of hurting someone, which is the definition of revenge porn under VA law

        • AlDente@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          It is in no way nonconsensually disseminated. She uploaded the videos willingly and agreed to include them in the public domain per the terms of service of the site.

        • Baron Von J@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Just to repeat: for the purpose of hurting someone. Intent is a pretty big deal in criminal law. That’s why murder and manslaughter are different crimes with different sentencing guidelines. When she and her husband posted them, they weren’t trying to hurt someone’s reputation. This coverage is a result of someone deliberately trying cause harm to her career.

          • masterspace@lemmy.ca
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            1 year ago

            So what you’re saying is that we should get a nudist to run for office because then the press and opposition will never be able to use a photo of them in a negative context or risk going to prison?