That was a default judgement, which means he automatically lost because he didn't show up to court, not on the merit of the suit.

No it doesn’t mean that. He didn’t automatically lose because he didn’t show up. The court, specifically the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, allowed the Faull estate to petition for a default judgement due to McAfee’s continued failure to respond and due to the merits of the case presented. They did not, and would not, allow a default judgment on a meritless case.

Meritless cases don't even make it that far (the court refuses to hear the case), so while true this seems like an unnecessary quibble. Yes, the suit had enough to actually be heard by a court, but the reason for the judgement is due to McAfee's refusal to even participate. Said another way: if McAfee had participated, this is not the judgement that would've been reached. McAfee may have still be found responsible by the court, but not for the same reason.

It is certainly not the normal level of proof people take a court decision as being.

> Tasered is not torture, else surely cops wouldn't use it?

The history of trying to define things like "torture" as what the "good guys" don't do has a long an storied past, none of it successful.

> Tasered is not torture, else surely cops wouldn't use it?

You see a lot of Taser marks on people's genitals?

Cops have used clubs for years, that doesn't mean you can't torture someone with a club.

> Tasered is not torture, else surely cops wouldn't use it?

You know, a cop would taser you once for a few seconds. That poor guy got tasered repeatedly, including his genitalia. How is this not torture?

> You know, a cop would taser you once for a few seconds.

Most of the time. Cops are known to torture people with tasers in the US by using them for long periods of time or repeatedly.

And on the genitalia too. There was that Chicago police squad that tortured suspects with a cattle prod to the testicles to coerce confessions.

Found an article: https://www.npr.org/2015/12/08/458926584/with-chicago-police...

That's just horrible...