Here is an interesting take on this story...

New York Times proves that they are nothing more than a political tabloid these days

Releasing damaging information about candidates of the opposing party into the heat of a campaign is an age-old political practice, but the sensational nature of the disclosure of sex tapes — reportedly featuring Ms. Gibson and her husband, a lawyer — is highly unusual. Ms. Gibson called the release of the tapes “the worst gutter politics.” The Post said it learned of the material from a “Republican operative” who denied a connection to Ms. Gibson’s opponent, David Owen, or to other political groups in Virginia.

Daniel P. Watkins, a lawyer for Ms. Gibson, said it was unlawful in the state to record someone in a state of undress and distribute it to a third party without that person’s consent.

“It’s illegal and it’s disgusting to disseminate this kind of material, and we’re working closely with the F.B.I. and local prosecutors to bring the wrongdoers to justice,” Mr. Watkins said.

Ms. Gibson gave no indication she was considering dropping out of the race. “It won’t intimidate me and it won’t silence me,” she said in her statement. “My political opponents and their Republican allies have proven they’re willing to commit a sex crime to attack me and my family because there’s no line they won’t cross to silence women when they speak up.”

To read this portion of the story, one might believe that Gibson and her Husband were recorded without consent by Republican operatives and that the secret recording was then released to the public.

How would one ever actually know that Gibson and her Husband were engaging in sexual acts on a live streaming sex-site while Gibson asked viewers for tips (possibly to help fund her campaign)? The site in question is appropriately called Chaturbate. This site apparently uploads the live streams for future viewing and those videos are also downloadable. What happens, of course, is that people download from these obscure sites and then upload them into something like Pornhub for more exposure.

This is what happened with the Gibsons. They willingly streamed themselves, someone downloaded the videos and then uploaded them on a more accessible site. There is nothing illegal about this as it happens all the time. I am sure that Chaturbate covers all their legal angles on this sort of deal as does Pornhub and other sites that allow people to upload. One might think her husband (the attorney) would understand this when they engaged in whatever they engaged in.

Apparently Susanna would also ask viewers to tip if she did specific things for her husband. According to the website rules, solicitation of money is a direct violation, making this even a harder sell for Gibson. Of course, that is likely similar to every pool hall in the country having a sign that prohibits gambling even as that is the point to coming to the pool hall. Either way, nobody recorded her without her consent, much less Republican operatives. All her opponents have done is directed people to where these videos can be found. Videos she willingly made with her husband for other people to view.