Celebrities, Privacy, Free Speech, and the Internet

Elena Falletti, Carlo Cattaneo LIUC University, has published The Scandals of Caroline, Max and Kate: Does Celebrity Privacy Threaten Press Freedom in the Internet Age? in Medien und Privatheit (Simon Garnett, Stefan Halft, Matthias Herz, and Julia Maria Moenig, eds.; Karl Stutz Verlag, 2014). Here is the abstract.

Celebrities’ increasingly offensive use of the courts to prevent the spread of scandalous images can become limiting to media freedoms and freedom of speech. In Europe, national and international courts have ruled in favour of privacy, however have failed to prevent the dissemination of controversial materials through the Internet. In the United States, the approach is different: there, the law is traditionally oriented towards the protection of free speech. This article argues that any kind of preventive control of privacy through expensive litigation can weaken the watchdog function of public opinion and interfere with the neutrality of the Internet.

Download the essay from SSRN at the link.