Invasion of Privacy: Celebrity Edition
It’s not a secret that everyone loves reading about celebrity news such as the latest gossip on the Kardashians or Justin Bieber's marriage details, but what is the line of too much information being made available to the public?
With the uprise of social media usage, means the increase of celebrities sharing certain moments in their lives. Whilst celebrities are being careful of what to post in order to avoid the possible threats to their safety, the case of journalists not doing the same is something that is starting to become a major issue for celebrities.
Are there privacy laws?
When writing an article, there are certain rules that must be followed by the journalist in order to not to break invasion of privacy. The UK Article 10 law states “Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.”
In the USA, the laws surrounding privacy are very minimal. The laws state that the public are entitled to not have an invasion on public affairs, be portrayed in a false light, appropriation of one's name and disclosure of embarrassing private information. There are also two laws, but only in some states, that an individual is entitled to privacy in a place where they may undress and where they should feel safe from surveillance. Whilst these laws are in place, there have still been issues when these have been broken.
Max Mosley VS News of the World
A case against the News of the World was filed by Formula One boss, Max Mosley after the newspaper shared an article which falsely accused him of partaking in a ‘Nazi orgy’. Mosley successfully sued the newspaper for £60,000 under the rights of invading his personal privacy when pictures and videos were shared with the public of him partaking in sexual activity with prostitutes in his Chelsea home.
The judge of the case, Mr. Justice Eady, said the false claims surrounding the word ‘Nazi’ was enough to ‘ruin’ Mosley's life. The judge also said Mosley was entitled to privacy in relation to the sexual activity, no matter how “unconventional”, and also saying
“In the light of modern rights-based jurisprudence that does not provide any justification for the intrusion on the personal privacy of the claimant.”
News of the World tried to argue against the case of invasion of privacy by saying that they believed what was written and that it would be of public interest for the article to get posted.
Kendall Jenner VS TMZ
Notorious for publishing the exclusive news on celebrities before any other online news source, TMZ faced being blasted on social media from model and TV personality, Kendall Jenner. TMZ released footage of the models backyard and front of the house along with describing that the house was in a ‘beautiful gated community’ making the location of the house easily found.
Jenner took to Twitter and retweeted the TMZ post with the caption,
“And how do you guys think these terrifying people know where my house is? cuz you release not only photos but my location. it is so beyond unsafe. is this not our one ounce of privacy we can get???”
She also tweeted that her house should be her “safe haven” yet due to reports like the one from TMZ, this is not the case for her as the star has suffered from previous robberies and break-ins from stalkers.
What is the solution?
There only seems to be one solution to this issue, make privacy laws stronger! Whilst there are laws, there is some information which just shouldn’t be published to the public, especially surrounding celebrities. Celebrities should be entitled to feel safe in their own houses, the same way that a non-famous person does.
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