By John Carucci
NEW YORK (AP) --Portraying a heroic sex crimes detective on television has provided Mariska Hargitay with a platform to help sexual assault victims in real life.
Hargitay, who stars as Detective Olivia Benson in the police procedural "Law and Order: SVU," has turned her clout as an advocate for victims into the upcoming HBO documentary, "I Am Evidence," where she also serves as producer.
"I feel like I was given a gift with this role. I was given a platform. It was a way for me to respond. I've had the privilege of having had so many survivors share their stories with me, and I feel a responsibility to that," Hargitay said.
She admits backing the documentary was driven by her "own outrage" of the way victims of sexual assault are treated by the system. "People say, 'why did you make this movie?' I said because I was really mad," Hargitay said.
The film, which premieres Monday on HBO, focuses on four survivors whose rape kits went untested for years. Part of the problem is that many states have no legislation that demands testing within a reasonable period. As a result, hundreds of thousands of kits are backlogged, with many never tested.
"I just couldn't comprehend that in this country this was going on. That they were stockpiling rape kits," Hargitay said.
The documentary also examines the victim blaming that some rape survivors encounter from law enforcement officers who aren't properly trained.
Hargitay started the Joyful Heart Foundation in 2004 as a means to help victims of sexual assault heal from their emotional trauma.
She said sexual assault survivors have reached out to her through letters and emails. Over time, she realized that Benson serves as a role model for their unheard voices, and want to make sure they are heard.
While the film deals with how rape victims are treated, Hargitay envisions a world where sexual assault never happens again. Hargitay feels fixing these problems are more basic than we realize.
"Compassion and empathy would heal so much, and it's so simple. Women have carried this burden for so long, and it's men that need to engage," Hargitay said. "Everything we need to know we learned in kindergarten."
Epic Games sues Google and Samsung over phone settings, accusing them of violating antitrust laws
Video game maker Epic Games sued Google and Samsung on Monday, accusing the tech companies of coordinating to block third-party competition in application distribution on Samsung devices.
At issue is Samsung's "Auto Blocker" feature, which only allows for apps from authorized sources, such as the Samsung Galaxy Store or Google Play Store, to be installed. The feature is turned on by default but can be changed in a phone's settings. The tool prevents the installation of applications from unauthorized sources and blocks "malicious activity," according to Samsung.
In a lawsuit filed in San Francisco federal court โ Epic's second against Google โ the company said Auto Blocker "is virtually guaranteed to entrench Google's dominance over Android app distribution." Epic, developer of the popular game "Fortnite," filed the suit to prevent Google from "negating the long overdue promise of competition in the Android App Distribution Market," according to the complaint.
"Allowing this coordinated illegal anti-competitive dealing to proceed hurts developers and consumers and undermines both the jury's verdict and regulatory and legislative progress around the world," Epic Games said in a post on its website.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Samsung said it "actively fosters market competition, enhances consumer choice, and conducts its operations fairly."
"The features integrated into our devices are designed in accordance with Samsung's core principles of security, privacy, and user control, and we remain fully committed to safeguarding users' personal data. Users have the choice to disable Auto Blocker at any time," Samsung said, adding that it plans to "vigorously contest Epic Game's baseless... Read More