What Are Your Privacy Rights?
More than ever, Americans are concerned with their right to privacy and how safe they are from prying eyes. The passage of bills like The Patriot Act have sparked debates about government intrusion and how safe information is over the internet. There are different facets of privacy and your rights. It is in your best interest to know all about them.
Common Law Rights to Privacy
Common Law refers to the judicial process of discovering the law based on the facts of the case. This method uses what many refer to as Natural Law, or law of reason, to navigate through the facts of the case. This method takes into account not only the statements of the case made by both parties, but also social norms. There are several torts, or infringements, that constitute the common law right to privacy:
Intrusion Upon Seclusion: This refers to both the physical and nonphysical act of intruding on someone's home, apartment, or hotel room. It can be entering the home or spying on the home with microphones, phone taps, or video cameras.
Public Disclosure of Embarrassing Facts: This refers to things like revealing a health document via Facebook or leaving a voicemail at your work of everyone you've slept with at the office. These can all be completely true under common law and still be an invasion of privacy. This is where judicial discretion sets in. The judge decides if the information is actually an invasion of privacy.
False Light Publicity: This protects people from the public disclosure of false personal information. For instance, if a soldier comes back from war as a hero and a publications insinuates that he is actually a coward because of third party information, the soldier is able to sue for false light publicity. However, politicians, celebrities, and professional athletes are hardly ever able to sue for false light publicity because proof is needed to show that the publisher knew the information was wildly inaccurate.
Appropriation of Name or Likeness: With the increased use of social media, this tort is becoming more important. This prevents someone from using your name or likeness under false pretenses. For example, if someone makes a fake Facebook account of your name and pictures they could be sued.
It is getting easier to lose sight of what is acceptable and what is not when it comes to privacy rights. It's easy to dismiss an infringement of privacy rights as people share photos of their lives on a daily basis or check-in at our local Starbucks. Knowing your legal rights when it comes to what information other can access and release is important when attempting to navigate through the legalities of the internet. It may also save you from a lawsuit when sharing information which seemed innocent. For more information, contact a company like Morgan Law PLLC.
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