PRIVACY LAW JOUR3060 Communication Law & Regulation

PRIVACY  “the right to be let alone”  Anchored to idea that people have the right to personal liberty, to keep and enjoy their property, to solitude, and to be left alone by the government and other people  1. Common Law Origins  2. Constitutional Origins – Government Intrusion  3. Constitutional Origins – Media Intrusion  4. The Future of Privacy Law

PRIVACY LAW – COMMON LAW ORIGINS  De May vs. Roberts (1881) early privacy case  Samuel D. Warren and Louis Brandeis’ “The Right to Privacy” (Harvard Law Review, 1890) beginning of privacy law  William L. Prosser’s “Privacy” (1960) categories of privacy law

William L. Prosser’s “Privacy” (1960) Categories of Privacy Law  1. Intrusion upon the plaintiff’s seclusion or into his private affairs  2. Public disclosure of embarrassing private facts about plaintiff  3. Publicity which places the plaintiff in a false light in the public eye  4. Appropriation of the plaintiff’s name or likeness for the defendant’s advantage

PRIVACY LAW – CONSTITUTIONAL ORIGINS (GOVERNMENT INTRUSION)  Constitution doesn’t contain the word “privacy” >> limits government’s power to enact laws limiting people’s “right to be let alone”  Marriage, Divorce, Procreation, Parenting, Sexual Orientation, Lifestyle, Medical Information, Suicide, Death

PRIVACY LAW – CONSTITUTIONAL ORIGINS (GOVERNMENT INTRUSION)  Griswold vs. CT (1965) first case recognizing right to privacy  Loving vs. Virginia (1967) inter-racial marriage  Eisenstadt vs. Baird (1972) contraceptives  Roe vs. Wade (1973) abortion  Carey v. Population Services International (1977) procreation as protected privacy right  Bowers vs. Hardwick (1986) sexual orientation and acts  California v. Greenwood (1988) 4 th Amendment doesn’t prohibit warrantless searches of discarded trash

PRIVACY LAW – CONSTITUTIONAL ORIGINS (MEDIA INTRUSION)  Roberson vs. Rochester Folding Box Co. (1902) appropriation  Pavesich vs. New England Life Insurance Co. (1905) recognized privacy rights as “fundamental”

Roberson vs. Rochester Folding Box Co. (1902)

Pavesich vs. New England Life Insurance Co. (1905)

PRIVACY LAW - DEFENSES  Common Law:  1.  2.  3.  Technical Defenses:  1.  2.  3.  Constitutional Defenses:  1. Time Inc. v. Hill: actual malice  2. Cox Broadcasting v. Cohn: newsworthiness

THE FUTURE OF PRIVACY LAW  The Right to Publicity:  Appropriation of likeness  Right of publicity  Zacchini vs. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting (1977) right to performance

Zacchini vs. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting (1977)