By Andrew Dalton, Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --A lawyer for the man charged with stealing Frances McDormand's Academy Award said Wednesday that he and his client plan to "forcefully and aggressively resist" the allegations against him.
Attorney Daniel Brookman acknowledged that suspect Terry Bryant can be seen on an Associated Press video holding McDormand's best actress statuette but those images don't rise to the seriousness of felony grand theft.
"There's a big difference between holding an Oscar and what he's charged with," Brookman said outside court, where Bryant was expected to make an appearance. "I don't think his character matches these charges."
Brookman would not elaborate further about Bryant's actions or intentions.
Bryant, 47, walked out of the Governors Ball Oscars after-party with the trophy on Sunday night, authorities said. He was captured on the AP video holding it proudly over his head and saying, "All right baby boys and baby girls."
He quickly gave it up when confronted by a photographer, police said.
McDormand won the Oscar, her second, for her performance in "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri."
Bryant could get three years in jail if convicted.
Brookman said Bryant will plead not guilty and ask for a reduction of his $20,000 bail.
Naomi Levy, a rabbi who came to court to support Bryant, said he is part of her spiritual congregation and never misses a meeting.
"He's a sweet and gentle man of faith," Levy said.
South Korea fines Meta $15 million for illegally collecting information on Facebook users
South Korea's privacy watchdog on Tuesday fined social media company Meta 21.6 billion won ($15 million) for illegally collecting sensitive personal information from Facebook users, including data about their political views and sexual orientation, and sharing it with thousands of advertisers.
It was the latest in a series of penalties against Meta by South Korean authorities in recent years as they increase their scrutiny of how the company, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, handles private information.
Following a four-year investigation, South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission concluded that Meta unlawfully collected sensitive information about around 980,000 Facebook users, including their religion, political views and whether they were in same-sex unions, from July 2018 to March 2022.
It said the company shared the data with around 4,000 advertisers.
South Korea's privacy law provides strict protection for information related to personal beliefs, political views and sexual behavior, and bars companies from processing or using such data without the specific consent of the person involved.
The commission said Meta amassed sensitive information by analyzing the pages the Facebook users liked or the advertisements they clicked on.
The company categorized ads to identify users interested in themes such as specific religions, same-sex and transgender issues, and issues related to North Korean escapees, said Lee Eun Jung, a director at the commission who led the investigation on Meta.
"While Meta collected this sensitive information and used it for individualized services, they made only vague mentions of this use in their data policy and did not obtain specific consent," Lee said.
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