Everyone loves to have.. Privacy

Attributed to Honou

So after being stuck on the motorway for over an hour as 2 lanes were closed due to a 6 car pile up accident, my clutch on the mini burning, and sitting with my engine off for a while as the traffic was as slow as a snail, I arrived to my Law lecture around 40 minutes late! Luckily the theory notes were given as we arrived which made me feel a little more relaxed as I was present for the main information. Anyway the topic for today was privacy, every human being including me and you needs our privacy at times in our eventful lives. This is why the Human Rights Act under section 8 states that you cannot show people in their normal lives unless you have consent.

Privacy covers tabloid and celebrity journalism such as in the Ryan Giggs case. It was present here as it was alleged that Ryan Giggs was having an affair with his brothers wife. Ryan went down the privacy route to sue (not libel) because in section 8 it states you must not share a persons private life to the public unless given consent.

However tied in with all the celebrity hype is the fact that the paparazzi are entitled to most of their photographs which are published in magazines. The images of celebrities with 'sweaty pits' and the picking out of their imperfections are usually consented by the celebrities agent. When celebrities are out of the spotlight and not recieving much attention they gain a 'publicity top up' where they are paid for any images or stories used for magazines by a deal through their agents. This then gets them back in the spotlight even if the publicity is negative it has still been consented via their agents.

There are also other rights such as the state secret which covers the military. This allows them to be protected from any information regarding where they are at war, any secret places they may have and allows them to not be identified. This can stop spying from other countries as well as any photographs being published (as they are prohibited) which could give information to enemies regarding our status at war etc. 

Commercial secrets are vital for B2B (business to business) as they allow companies to keep certain things private. Health departments such as the NHS are allowed to keep secrets amongst themselves that don't concern the public. 

Confidentiality can be breached if information is passed on that has the necessary quality of confidence (important and unknown to anyone else) AND (not or as that is for libel)

Provided in 'circumstances imposing an obligation'  (this means when a reasonable person would think that it would be kept a secret. An example of this would be a doctor who we all consider to be confidential telling other people your problems when they have been given privately in a room such as an office.)

AND

No permission was given to pass on the information.

AND 

'Detriment' is likely to be caused to a person who gave the information has to show that they WILL be hurt. An example of this would be losing a contract at work due to leaking information. Note, this is also different from libel where it only has to be proven that you may have caused someone harm.

Attributed to Dearbarbie work

Princess Caroline case

This was the creatio of defacto privacy law. The paparazzi intruded a private meal in a restaurant where the Princess had deliberately sat herself out of the way at the back by using a long camera lense from outside and took some snap shot pictures of her and the unidentified male she was with. She took them to court on the basis of them breaching her privacy as she had made an attempt to remain private from both the public and the paparazzi. This then ensure that the publication of pictures were only justified if the person is engaging in a clear public duty (such as when she awarded the cup to the Europenan Cup winners infront of a stadium of thousands of people.) There are new dangers of taking 'wallpaper' type images of identifiable people without permission.

Therefore Journalists need consent in order to be able to publish images of certain celebrities in the public eye to avoid invading their privacy or family lives.