> In March 2013, O'Keefe settled the case with Vera, paying Vera $100,000.
He tried to entrap someone for human smuggling. The guy immediately reported it to the police, but O'Keefe released edited footage anyway.
> The video releases were heavily edited to feature only the worst or most inappropriate statements of the various ACORN employees and to omit some of the most salient statements by O'Keefe and Giles. Each of the ACORN employees recorded in California was a low level employee whose job was to help the needy individuals who walked in the door seeking assistance. Giles and O'Keefe lied to engender compassion, but then edited their statements from the released videos.
O'Keefe pictured himself in stereotypical "pimp" clothes in the released footage, while actually wearing normal clothes at the time. The whole thing was clearly an attempt to extract something as damaging as possible and dress it up as an actual problem, regardless of the truth.
Even if you agree with their politics, you'd be a fool to assume anyone willing to spin what they produce like that is going to produce "neutral" videos a third party can trust as a source when they have intentionally edited them misleadingly multiple times.
> Vera filed a civil suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California against O'Keefe and Giles for recording him without his permission, which was a violation of California law.
While recording that conversation appeared to be illegal, that is neither "for causing harm through their sting attempts and disinformation" and definitely not "multiple times".
I'm all for calling out bad actors but at least call them out for what they've done vs what you imagined.
> In March 2013, O'Keefe settled the case with Vera, paying Vera $100,000.
He tried to entrap someone for human smuggling. The guy immediately reported it to the police, but O'Keefe released edited footage anyway.
> The video releases were heavily edited to feature only the worst or most inappropriate statements of the various ACORN employees and to omit some of the most salient statements by O'Keefe and Giles. Each of the ACORN employees recorded in California was a low level employee whose job was to help the needy individuals who walked in the door seeking assistance. Giles and O'Keefe lied to engender compassion, but then edited their statements from the released videos.
O'Keefe pictured himself in stereotypical "pimp" clothes in the released footage, while actually wearing normal clothes at the time. The whole thing was clearly an attempt to extract something as damaging as possible and dress it up as an actual problem, regardless of the truth.
Even if you agree with their politics, you'd be a fool to assume anyone willing to spin what they produce like that is going to produce "neutral" videos a third party can trust as a source when they have intentionally edited them misleadingly multiple times.