Chapters 7 & 8 - Invasion of Privacy

Question 1

What are the three basic conceptions of privacy? Define each.

Answer 1

1) Privacy of Autonomy - The ability of a person to act of their own freewill without government intrusion.
2) Privacy of Space - People possess a physical zone of privacy into which others cannot intrude.
3) Privacy of Information - People have a right to control the facts and information about yourself and what other people do with that information.

Question 2

What are the four primary sources of privacy rights?

Answer 2

1) Constitutional Law
2) Statutory Law
3) Common Law
4) Administrative Law

Question 3

What are the four kinds of privacy violations? Briefly define each.

Answer 3

1) Appropriation - Taking one’s name, picture, photograph, or likeness and using it for commercial gain without their permission.
2) Intrusion - Going into one’s solitude or seclusion. Deals with how information is gathered.
3) Publication of Private Information - The information can be true, but is about the private affairs of a person. (Hulk Hogan’s sex tape fits here.)
4) False Light - Publishing Material that puts an individual in a false perspective. Very similar to libel.

Question 4

Define the Right of Publicity.

Answer 4

The property right of famous people to the economic benefits of their own image.

Question 5

What is the Booth rule?

Answer 5

The image of a famous person can be used on the cover of a magazine to sell it if that individual is part of the coverage in the magazine.

Question 6

What is the central question in cases of intrusion?

Answer 6

Did the speaker have a reasonable expectation of privacy?

Question 7

What did the Court decide in Bartnicki v. Vopper (2001)?

Answer 7

• The Court held that the press can publish information that is illegally obtained as long as they are not the ones who obtained it illegally.
• The Four Standards are
  1) The material must be truthful
  2) The material must be about matters of public significance.
  3) The material must be lawfully obtained even if the source obtained it unlawfully.
  4) The government must move be able to demonstrate an interest of the highest order.

Question 8

What are the three basic elements of a public disclosure of private facts case?

Answer 8

1) There must be publicity given to facts about an individual.
2) The revelation of these facts must be highly offensive to a reasonable person.
3) The published material must not be of legitimate public concern.

Question 9

What did the Court decide in Sidis v. F-R Publishing Co. (1940)?

Answer 9

• The paper published an article about a young mathematician who was a genius but never did anything with his life.
• Sidis sued for invasion of privacy.
• The court ruled the matter was of public concern since the public enjoyed reading about such stories they were of public concern.

Question 10

What did the Court decide in Virgil v. Time Inc. (1975)?

Answer 10

• The case involved the publication of facts about the life of a bodysurfer.
• The court ruled that the material was newsworthy and therefore not a public disclosure of private facts.

Question 11

What are the three conditions that must be met in order for a plaintiff to win a False-Light Invasion of privacy suit?

Answer 11

1) Publication of material must put an individual in a false light.
2) That false light would be highly offensive to a reasonable person.
3) The publisher of that material was at fault. (Actual Malice)