Max Mosley

[ThorkelGriersen]

Has anyone been following the Max Mosley trial? Mosley, the British head of the Forumla 1 racing association, was video taped in a S&M party and the results published in the tabloid "The News of The World" and posted on several web sites including YouTube.

Mosley is suing the paper for "invasion of privacy," and seems to have a rather good case. The first detailed account on this side of the pond has just appeared in the New York Times

He maintains, rightly, in my view that private matters have the right to remain private. It will be interesting to see if he collects damages.

Ayone else following this?

 

[YourCaptor]

Has anyone been following the Max Mosley trial? Mosley, the British head of the Forumla 1 racing association, was video taped in a S&M party and the results published in the tabloid "The News of The World" and posted on several web sites including YouTube.

Mosley is suing the paper for "invasion of privacy," and seems to have a rather good case. The first detailed account on this side of the pond has just appeared in the New York Times

He maintains, rightly, in my view that private matters have the right to remain private. It will be interesting to see if he collects damages.

Ayone else following this?

Once you have a certain amount of power I think you lose a lot of privacy, it's just a trade off.

In this case, he should probably win.

 

[ThorkelGriersen]

Once you have a certain amount of power I think you lose a lot of privacy, it's just a trade off.

In this case, he should probably win.

I'm not a lawyer nor (as the saying goes) have I ever played one on TV. I believe that in both the US and the UK anything that happens in public is fair game. However, poking a camera in a bedroom is beyond the pale.

After starting the thread I noticed that Cat had posted a link in her "Interesting News" thread to the BBC story.

Also there is an editoral and links to related stories in The Gardian inculding some recent research into the prevelance of BDSM, if anyone is interested.

 

[Homburg]

Been following it a bit. Sounds like a fun scene

 

[jockdom]

His old man was the leader of the Union of British Fascists in the 30s. So thats where his love of SS uniforms comes from!

 

[Lady_Midnight]

I've been keeping an eye on the case...I think he's perfectly right...what happens in the privacy of his own home between consenting adults should be no one else's business.

NOTW is famous for this type of reporting btw.

 

[ThorkelGriersen]

His old man was the leader of the Union of British Fascists in the 30s. So thats where his love of SS uniforms comes from!

Yes.

The Merchant-Ivory film Remains of the Day that centered around the butler (Anthony Hopkins) and the housekeeper (Emma Thompson) had as its background a "Lord of the Manor" who holds a country retreat for a group to try to create an alliance with the Third Reich. The model for the character was the father: Sir Oswald Mosley.

After World War II he disappeared from the scene, only to resurface in the late '60s as an anti-porn crusader. He was more than a little upset with "anything goes" swinging London. His numerous attempts to shut down Penthouse and other magazines, etc. earned him the name "Lord Porn" in the tabloid press of that day.

 

[ThorkelGriersen]

I've been keeping an eye on the case...I think he's perfectly right...what happens in the privacy of his own home between consenting adults should be no one else's business.

NOTW is famous for this type of reporting btw.

If he wins, they may have to change a few things.

 

[00Syd]

I've been following it a little. I'm a sucker for a scandal, what can I say?

I think in this instance he's totally in the right.

But the whole thing with his Nazi dad and the girls dressed up as SS officers and all that? Pretty way out.

 

[Lady_Midnight]

If he wins, they may have to change a few things.

Here's hoping

I really don't understand their argument was in the public interest...more like it was in their interest to sell a few more papers. Apart from the gossip value, nobody here really cares.

I feel sorry for his wife. I'm not 100% convinced that she knew _nothing_ of his activities, but I'm sure she's feeling pretty publicly humiliated at the moment.

 

[minx1]

Has anyone been following the Max Mosley trial? Mosley, the British head of the Forumla 1 racing association, was video taped in a S&M party and the results published in the tabloid "The News of The World" and posted on several web sites including YouTube.

Mosley is suing the paper for "invasion of privacy," and seems to have a rather good case. The first detailed account on this side of the pond has just appeared in the New York Times

He maintains, rightly, in my view that private matters have the right to remain private. It will be interesting to see if he collects damages.

Ayone else following this?

I haven't been following it, but thats a good article in the Guardian. Being the left wing broadsheet you can usually count on them to take quite an openminded approach to issues like BDSM. The News of the World on the otherhand *snort* ok if salacious, bawdy, biased journalism is your thing.
'
Firstly taking away the fact that he is the son of a facist what he gets up to in the privacy of his own home or in private anywhere should remain just that imo. Personally I can't see how it has any bearing on his ability to carry out his position at work.

I'm am slightly torn though regarding the nazi overtones (if that is correct). I admit to not knowing much about him, his values and what he stands for, but part of me thinks you can't hold him accountable for his dads facist views. On the otherhand he has, I imagine been exposed to them over the years and its a strong character who isn't affected or influenced by their upbringing.

I guess that leads to another question...does that matter?

Is BDSM ok unless you hold facist views and if you do, does it put a different slant on it?

Just throwing it out there, because I've only just thought of it and am not sure of my own thoughts on it.

ETA. I'm confusing myself

 

[YourCaptor]

Nazi themed.

Thats a bit different then S&M. If thats his thing then public humiliation seems just. Freedom to do what you like, etc, but theirs a difference between nazi play and uniform play. Whats next, KKK head games.

Toying around with those concepts is very wrong.

Hopping he's innocent.

 

[minx1]

Nazi themed.

Thats a bit different then S&M. If thats his thing then public humiliation seems just. Freedom to do what you like, etc, but theirs a difference between nazi play and uniform play. Whats next, KKK head games.

Toying around with those concepts is very wrong.

Hopping he's innocent.

Yes, this would be my opinion too

 

[jockdom]

Who cares if some upper class twat wants to play slap n tickle with some hookers its happend in the brittish establishment for centuries!Inbred bastards

 

[ThorkelGriersen]

I haven't been following it, but thats a good article in the Guardian. Being the left wing broadsheet you can usually count on them to take quite an openminded approach to issues like BDSM. The News of the World on the otherhand *snort* ok if salacious, bawdy, biased journalism is your thing.
'
Firstly taking away the fact that he is the son of a facist what he gets up to in the privacy of his own home or in private anywhere should remain just that imo. Personally I can't see how it has any bearing on his ability to carry out his position at work.

I'm am slightly torn though regarding the nazi overtones (if that is correct). I admit to not knowing much about him, his values and what he stands for, but part of me thinks you can't hold him accountable for his dads facist views. On the otherhand he has, I imagine been exposed to them over the years and its a strong character who isn't affected or influenced by their upbringing.

I guess that leads to another question...does that matter?

Is BDSM ok unless you hold facist views and if you do, does it put a different slant on it?

Just throwing it out there, because I've only just thought of it and am not sure of my own thoughts on it.

ETA. I'm confusing myself

Well, not knowing the father or the son, I really have no way of knowing the son's political attitudes.

A number of these "uniform" scenes do seem to come to the edge of Nazi references. The son says he is not a Nazi and as far as I know there is no public information to contradict that.

On the subject, one of the most surprising things that I have ever seen was a scene in the Nick Bloomfield documentary Fetishes filmed at the NYC Pro-Dominatrix salon "Pandora's Box." One client filmed is a NY investment banker and conservative Jew. He appeared to be in his 30's and wasn't even alive during World War II. He said that he develops an overwhelming sense of guilt knowing that so many died in the death camps and that he has such an affluent and safe life. So every 4-5 weeks he makes an appointment for a session with Nazi uniforms and wants ant Semitic humiliation. No flogging or corporal punishment. He licks the toilets etc. When it is over he said he finds a real sense of freedom and can return to his upper middle class life style guilt free.

I'm sure that a lot of people would be upset with this, and I'm sure that they would suggest he see a psychiatrist instead.

I don't have the answer. The longer I live the most amazed I become.

 

[Homburg]

He won!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/jul/24/mosley.privacy

In his judgment Mr Justice Eady said that Mosley had a "reasonable expectation of privacy" in relation to his sexual activities no matter how "unconventional".

He found no evidence of Nazi themes in the orgy and said Mosley's life had been "ruined".

"I found that there was no evidence that the gathering on March 28 2008 was intended to be an enactment of Nazi behaviour or adoption of any of its attitudes. Nor was it in fact. I see no genuine basis at all for the suggestion that the participants mocked the victims of the Holocaust," Eady said.

"There was bondage, beating and domination which seem to be typical of S&M behaviour.

"But there was no public interest or other justification for the clandestine recording, for the publication of the resulting information and still photographs, or for the placing of the video extracts on the News of the World website – all of this on a massive scale.

"Of course, I accept that such behaviour is viewed by some people with distaste and moral disapproval, but in the light of modern rights-based jurisprudence that does not provide any justification for the intrusion on the personal privacy of the claimant."

Eady added: "It has to be recognised that no amount of damages can fully compensate the claimant for the damage done. He is hardly exaggerating when he says that his life was ruined."

 

[Lady_Midnight]

Heard this mentioned briefly on the lunchtime news at work and couldn't wait to get home to find out all the details!

 

[catalina_francisco]

Perhaps people will begin to win back the right to privacy and freedom from others creating mischief. With the Max Mosley case, and also this one I posted a thread about which awarded a man damages for a false Facebook profile created by others, seems things are beginning to move toward accountability instead of the recent times of anything goes.

Catalina

 

[Betticus]

I'd go so far as to say that if you are a paparazzi who is blocking a car of a celebrity in an attempt to get photographs or video and you get run over.... the celebrity should not be held accountable.

Then again, I also think that people who piss me off should suffer somehow.

 

[naxalite0906]

He deserved to win... What he gets up to in private is his business...

However, if it was a Nazi scene, that is pretty wrong. But I guess no one will ever know.

 

[Instig8r]

He deserved to win... What he gets up to in private is his business...

However, if it was a Nazi scene, that is pretty wrong. But I guess no one will ever know.

Why does it make a difference if it _was_ a Nazi scene? It was done in private with consenting adults. Do you want others to decide what type of scenes _you_ can do in private with other consenting adults?

 

[ThorkelGriersen]

Coda

In the interest of completeness I will post links to a couple of stories.

I first saw the New York Times story and then theGuardian story.

The Guardian story gives more extensive quotes from the judge along with links at the bottom of the page to previous stories.

On the afternoon BBC broadcast the "News of the World" editor, Colin Myler, was doing a very dramatic bit that made it seem as if freedom of the press had been outlawed in the UK.

Personally, I only wish that far greater monetary damages had been awarded. The amount is really insignificant compared to the amount of money that Rupert Murdock made on all the extra papers that he sold.


I think that it takes a serious finanical slap to get the attention of such wealthy corporate malfactors.

 

[ShyVixen]

Why does it make a difference if it _was_ a Nazi scene? It was done in private with consenting adults. Do you want others to decide what type of scenes _you_ can do in private with other consenting adults?

While we would all like to live in a perfect world where 'scenes' are kept completely private and no dictated by certain rules of society - we don't. Especially as Max Mosley is a 'public' figure. To be honest, I thought the Nazi theme was piss poor taste and bad judgement on his part.

I have to agree with YourCaptor when he said toying around with these concepts is a murky area.

However, I am glad he won the privacy case.

 

[jockdom]

In the interest of completeness I will post links to a couple of stories.

I first saw the New York Times story and then theGuardian story.

The Guardian story gives more extensive quotes from the judge along with links at the bottom of the page to previous stories.

On the afternoon BBC broadcast the "News of the World" editor, Colin Myler, was doing a very dramatic bit that made it seem as if freedom of the press had been outlawed in the UK.

Personally, I only wish that far greater monetary damages had been awarded. The amount is really insignificant compared to the amount of money that Rupert Murdock made on all the extra papers that he sold.


I think that it takes a serious finanical slap to get the attention of such wealthy corporate malfactors.

Mosely is no better than Murdoch part of the same corporate parasite system.

 

[ThorkelGriersen]

While we would all like to live in a perfect world where 'scenes' are kept completely private and no dictated by certain rules of society - we don't. Especially as Max Mosley is a 'public' figure. To be honest, I thought the Nazi theme was piss poor taste and bad judgement on his part.

I have to agree with YourCaptor when he said toying around with these concepts is a murky area.

However, I am glad he won the privacy case.

I rather suspect that the "Nazi" thing was a red herring. The News of the World offered a bonus to the dom of 10k pounds if she got anything on the video with Nazi symbols, and esp a "Seig Heil" salute. She didn't get anything showing a Nazi theme. Had there been such I would think an extra $20,000 would have ensured that it would have been documented.

One of the Dominatrices was German and spoke several sentences in German-not unusually. Mosley speaks German and had arranged previous sessions with her in Germany.

The NOTW made a big point of the spoken German but didn't get it translated to learn what she said. She actually didn't say anything other than what one would expect in such a situation-even in Kansas. Methinks the editors were not that lazy or stupid. I think they knew the meaning in English and decided it would make a better story if left in German.

It is a universal trait to suspect the worst when someone uses a language that the listener doesn't understand. At a social gathering in in the US if everyone is speaking English and only understands English,and a couple of Spanish speakers break off and speak in Spanish (and esp if they laugh) most people assume that what was said at the expense of the rest. ----I've lived too long in South Florida not to have seen that too many times. Sometimes it IS true, which only adds fuel to the fire.