[Mb-civic] Online Lessons on Unprotected Sex - Andrew J. McClurg - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Online Lessons on Unprotected Sex

By Andrew J. McClurg
Monday, August 15, 2005; Page A15

Kiss-and-tell is as old as love itself. Fortunately, most indiscreet 
paramours limit their blabbing to a few confidants. Not Jessica Cutler. 
In May 2004, she spilled out the graphic details of her sexual exploits 
on Capitol Hill on a blog accessible to hundreds of millions of Internet 
users.

Now a federal lawsuit by one of her past lovers has set up a potentially 
high-stakes battle between privacy and speech rights and could give new 
meaning to the idea of safe sex in a wired world.

Cutler's blog, written under the pseudonym Washingtonienne, was a daily 
diary of her sex life while working as a staffer for Sen. Mike DeWine 
(R-Ohio). It recounted, entertainingly and in considerable -- sometimes 
embarrassing -- detail, her ongoing relationships with six men, 
including plaintiff Robert Steinbuch, a lawyer who also worked for 
DeWine. Although Cutler never used his full name, and usually referred 
to the plaintiff by his initials, Steinbuch alleges the blog revealed 
sufficient information, including his first name, physical description 
and where he worked, to identify him.

The Internet gossip site Wonkette published excerpts from Cutler's blog, 
touching off a media "feeding frenzy" in which Steinbuch was repeatedly 
identified by his full name. Cutler capitalized on the publicity. She 
gave print, broadcast and online interviews, posed nude for Playboy and 
reportedly received a $300,000 advance for her just-published book, a 
veiled fictional account of a Senate staffer's sexual adventures on 
Capitol Hill.

Steinbuch's argument is compelling. By any normative standard, he 
suffered a genuine wrong. As he asserts in his complaint, "It is one 
thing to be manipulated and used by a lover, it is another thing to be 
cruelly exposed to the world."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/14/AR2005081401034.html?nav=hcmodule

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