When someone invades your privacy

Invasion of Privacy - FindLaw

Let's say you accidentally leave a personal letter containing private information on a public park bench, and that letter is picked up and read by someone else. Even if the sharing of this information damages your reputation or causes other harm, it is not a violation of your privacy. That requires a "reasonable expectation of privacy", which would apply if the letter was not left out in public.

But if you're having a private conversation in your home and a neighbor uses an electronic device to eavesdrop (and this causes injury), then your expectation of privacy has been violated. This is because you have a reasonable expectation that your neighbor is not using surveillance on your home.

An invasion of privacy occurs when there is an intrusion upon your reasonable expectation to be left alone. This article covers the four main types of invasion of privacy claims, an intentional tort primarily controlled by state laws.

The four main types of invasion of privacy claims are:

Intrusion of Solitude
Appropriation of Name or Likeness
Public Disclosure of Private Facts
False Light

The following information explores these types of claims and the basics of invasion of privacy law in general.

1. Intrusion of Solitude

Intruding upon another's solitude or private affairs is subject to liability if the intrusion is considered highly offensive to a reasonable person. This tort is often associated with "peeping Toms," someone illegally intercepting private phone calls, or snooping through someone's private records.

Taking photographs of someone in public would not be invasion of privacy; however, using a long- range camera to take photos of someone inside their home would qualify. Making a few unsolicited telephone calls may not constitute a privacy invasion, but calling repeatedly after being asked to stop would.

Example: A man with binoculars regularly climbs a tree in his yard and watches a woman across the street undress through her bathroom window.

2. Appropriation of Name or Likeness

Plaintiffs may make a claim for damages if an individual (or company) uses their name or likeness for benefit without their permission. Usually this involves a business using a celebrity's name or likeness in an advertisement. Some states even limit this type of privacy tort to commercial uses.

This is not always the case. For example, a private detective who impersonates someone else to obtain confidential information has invaded that person's privacy. The recognition of this tort is like a property right; in other words, a person's name and likeness is treated as that person's property. For celebrities, this is often referred to as "right of publicity".

Example: An advertising agency approached musician Tom Waits to participate in a campaign for a new automobile. Waits, who has a distinctive and easily recognizable voice, declined. The advertisers hired someone who sounds like him to do the soundtrack, prompting Waits to sue the automaker for appropriating his likeness.

3. Public Disclosure of Private Facts

This type of invasion of privacy claim must be weighed against the First Amendment's protection of free speech. Unlike defamation (libel or slander), truth of the disclosed information isn't a defense. If an individual publicly reveals truthful information that is not of public concern and which a reasonable person would find offensive if made public, they could be liable for damages.

For example, a woman about to deliver a baby via caesarian section agrees to allow the operation to be filmed for educational purposes only, but instead it's shown to the public in a commercial theater. This is an invasion of her privacy. However, publishing an article about a politician known for his family values who is having an affair with a staffer is of public concern and therefore not an invasion of his privacy. Some states including New York don't recognize this type of claim.

Example: The maiden name of a former prostitute who was acquitted of murder was revealed in a film about the case. Since the trial, she had moved to another city, gotten married and adopted a new lifestyle. Her new friends were unaware of her past, so the disclosure of this true but embarrassing information was deemed an invasion of her privacy.

4. False Light

A false light claim is similar to a defamation claim in that it allows an individual to sue for the public disclosure of information that is misleading (or puts that person in a "false light"), but not technically false. The key difference is that defamation claims only apply to the public broadcasting of false information and as with defamation, sometimes First Amendment protections prevail.

Generally, a false light claim must contain the following elements: (1) the defendant made a publication about the plaintiff; (2) it was done with reckless disregard; (3) it placed the plaintiff in a false light; and (4) it would be highly offensive or embarrassing to a reasonable person.

Example: A 96-year-old woman sued an Arkansas newspaper for printing her picture next to the headline, "Special Delivery: World's oldest newspaper carrier, 101, quits because she's pregnant!" The woman, who was not pregnant, was awarded damages of $1.5 million.

Get Legal Help with an Invasion of Privacy Claim

Privacy issues are complicated and emotional, which can result in highly contentious court proceedings. Whether your privacy has been violated, or someone is accusing you of violating their privacy, you may benefit from a lawyer's assistance in preparing your case. Contact a local defamation attorney with invasion of privacy law experience to learn how they can help you defend your rights in court.

What Is Invasion of Privacy?

Invasion of privacy is the unjustifiable intrusion into the personal life of another without consent. However, invasion of privacy is not a tort on its own; rather it generally consists of four distinct causes of action. States vary on both whether they recognize these causes of action as well as what elements are necessary to prove them, so you should be sure to check your state's laws or consult with a lawyer before bringing legal action.

The four most common types of invasion of privacy torts are as follows:

Appropriation of Name or Likeness
Intrusion Upon Seclusion
False Light
Public Disclosure of Private Facts

Below, you'll find explanations and examples of each of these causes of action.

Appropriation of Name or Likeness

Appropriation of name or likeness laws protect your right to control the use of your own identity for a business or economic purpose. Typically, these claims involve the unauthorized use of a person's picture or name. While state laws vary, the elements necessary to prove appropriation are generally as follows:

The defendant (the party being sued) used the plaintiff's (the party initiating the lawsuit) name, likeness or identity;
The use was for the defendant's benefit, whether the benefit is economic or otherwise;
The use was without the plaintiff's consent; and
The use caused injury to the plaintiff.

Intrusion Upon Seclusion

Intrusion upon seclusion laws protect your right to privacy while you are in solitude or seclusion. This right extends to you or your private affairs. For example, it's an invasion of privacy for a neighbor to peek through your windows or take pictures of you in your home. Likewise, it's also an invasion of privacy to use electronic equipment to eavesdrop on a private conversation. The general elements of this tort are as follows:

The defendant intruded into the plaintiff's private affairs, seclusion or solitude
The intrusion would be objectionable to a reasonable person

The defendant does not need to communicate the details of the intrusion to a third party; once the defendant has committed the intruding act (and the plaintiff proves the necessary elements), the defendant is liable for invasion of privacy.

False Light

False light laws protect your right to not have potentially misleading or damaging information about yourself publicly disclosed. This includes the disclosure of information that may be true but is nonetheless misleading or damaging. For example, it may be an invasion of privacy if a caption published with a photograph in a news article about a protest describes a person as a participant, when in fact, the person was only observing the protest. Generally, the elements of false light are as follows:

The defendant publicly disclosed information about the plaintiff;
The information placed the plaintiff in a false light; and
The false light would be highly offensive to a reasonable person.

Many states also require the plaintiff to prove that the defendant acted with actual malice, so be sure to check your state's laws or consult with a lawyer if you believe you may have a claim.

Public Disclosure of Private Facts

Public disclosure of private facts laws protect your right to keep the details of your private life from becoming public information. For example, publicizing facts about a person's health, sexual conduct, or financial troubles is likely an invasion of privacy. While state laws vary, the general elements of this tort are as follows:

The defendant publicized a matter regarding the private life of the plaintiff;
The publicized matter would be highly offensive to a reasonable person; and
It is not of legitimate concern to the public.

To publicize a private matter, laws generally require that private information is disseminated in such a way that it is substantially certain to become public knowledge.

Popular Example in the Media

It probably seemed like a great idea when a well-regarded suburban school district decided to loan its students laptop computers for the entire school year, even permitting the students to take the laptops home. The students, however, were unaware that the laptops were armed with internal anti-theft protection that allowed school district personnel to activate the laptops' webcams anytime without the consent or knowledge of the user. The school district used this anti-theft function to take thousands of pictures of its students studying, speaking to family members, and even sleeping.

The so-called "Webcamgate" scandal resulted in a Pennsylvania school district paying a six-figure sum to settle the invasion of privacy lawsuit against it. While Webcamgate would have seemed far-fetched in the 1980s and 1990s, today and in the future, we can expect technology to continue to challenge our right to privacy, making understanding this right essential.

Learn More About Invasion of Privacy Claims

If you believe you have suffered an invasion of privacy, it's important to seek out the help of a qualified lawyer. Filing a legal claim protects your rights and can compensate you for the emotional and mental distress the invasion caused as well as for any financial or reputational harm you suffered as a result. Speak with a defamation attorney to learn more.

Invasion of privacy. Crime and Punishment

Sergei Petukhov, RIA Novosti columnist.

On October 1, the law on the protection of the private life of a citizen, adopted by the State Duma on June 21 and signed by the president on July 2 of this year, came into force.

July 3, 2013, 13:57

The law on the private life of citizens was adopted in RussiaThis law for the first time introduces a rule on the protection of citizens in cases of dissemination of false, but not discrediting information about them, for example, information about a non-existent victory of a citizen in a competition. nine0005

Even at the stage of discussing the law, there was a lot of controversy about whether it would take the "servants of the people" out of public control. Many then even believed that the law was initiated by officials and deputies, frightened by the publications on the Internet of information about their business, unseemly connections, foreign assets, and about their children and household members who successfully use these assets.

And so this law came into force. Probably, it's time to take a closer look at who he can really complicate life for. nine0005

What the law protects and from what

The law stands guard over the so-called "non-material goods" that belong to each of us from birth (or guaranteed by law): our life, health, personal integrity, honor and good name, business reputation, inviolability privacy, personal and family secrets, the right to free movement, the choice of place of stay and residence, the right to a name and the right of authorship.

If encroachments on all these non-material benefits of a citizen are quite material, rude and weighty, such as, for example, a slap in the face or illegal expulsion from the house where we live, then the Criminal Code protects us from this. nine0005

In this case, we are talking about non-material attacks on private life, that is, the collection, storage and dissemination of information about the private life of a citizen. The law introduces responsibility for this, because these actions can, under certain circumstances, destroy a family, a good name, and finally lead to a heart attack. Even if a citizen only feels such a threat, now he has the right to apply to the court to stop it.

Why was such a law needed

Indeed, why? After all, the Criminal Code has a law on libel, and the Civil Code has always had articles protecting honor, dignity, privacy and other intangible benefits. There were even as many as three articles there - from the 151st to the 152nd "note". Why was it necessary to amend them and add another 152nd article under number 2? nine0005

The fact is that since 1994, when the current Civil Code was adopted, our life has changed, a new reality has appeared in it in the form of the Internet, and a hole has appeared in the code.

He protected against encroachments on the intangible benefits of a citizen in the media or in documents emanating from organizations, but in principle he could not protect against the same on the Internet. A blog is not a media outlet, and even official documents about a citizen posted on a blog are not a document coming from a legal entity.

Bloggers used their freedom from legislation actively and not always for the benefit of the citizens they discussed, inflicting quite material and sometimes very significant damage on them. And since some of these citizens had the right to initiate legislation, they initiated and adopted a law that eliminates this gap in the legislation.

What's new is prohibited

It prohibits everything that was prohibited by the Civil Code in its previous version, only now these prohibitions also apply to the Internet. Now any citizen, having felt a threat to his intangible benefits due to the dissemination of private information about him on the Internet, has the right to call the offender to court. And if the court recognizes the guilt of the latter, he will answer to the fullest extent of the Civil Code, first of all by deleting his post. nine0005

Some opponents of the law still cherish the hope that this will not affect retweets and reposts of illegal information, they say, nothing is said about its duplicates in the law. Vain hopes. It is said very clearly and unambiguously: "A citizen has the right to demand the deletion of the relevant information, as well as the refutation of the specified information in a way that ensures that the refutation is brought to the attention of Internet users."

How can the refutation be communicated to network users? By the same route that the original information spread. There is simply no other way on the Internet. nine0005

When public and public interests help

Having patched up the gap for bloggers in the Civil Code, the deputies did not stop and introduced the whole article 152 (2) "Protection of a citizen's private life", which was not previously in the Civil Code.

The inability to stop in time often harms people's choices. Although it would probably be wrong to blame them for this. If we recall our national history, then this seems to be our common national trait.

The new article does not fundamentally introduce anything new into Russian legislation. It only in a concentrated form focuses on the fact that it is prohibited "without the consent of a citizen, the collection, storage, distribution and use of any information about his private life, in particular information about his origin, about his place of stay or residence, about personal and family life ". nine0005

But having said "a", the legislators had to say "b" as well, because a full stop after this passage would have paralyzed the work of all domestic media. Officials with deputies would lose channels for disseminating information about their work, not to mention PR.

It is impossible to ask the consent of an official or a deputy every time: “Can I write that you graduated from college before you got this job? Would you mind if we write that you come from a simple working-class family and have achieved everything since childhood with your work and talent? Will you not sue if it becomes known that you are now in Kemerovo at a meeting with your voters?" Etc. nine0005

Therefore, the second paragraph of the law appeared, which says that "the collection, storage, distribution and use of information about the private life of a citizen in state, public or other public interests is not a violation of the rules established by the first paragraph of this paragraph."

The practice of law enforcement is well known to all of us. But in this case, these same "public or other public interests" will greatly interfere with its usual course. An experienced lawyer can learn a lot from them. nine0005

For whom the law on the protection of privacy is dangerous

A blogger who purposefully rots an official or deputy has at least some justification left: they say that he acts in the interests of society. And an ordinary network "hamster" who does not climb into high politics, but collects, stores and distributes information about the private life of, for example, his boss, or a neighbor, or a colleague he likes - how will he justify himself now?

Now the post about the fact that the ex-wife, whom she took out of Moldova, where she grew up in a family of alcoholics, did not see that she had three children there from her two previous husbands, whom she left in the maternity hospital, gave her everything, and she , such and such, with the director Yakin, now drove off to Sochi for the Olympics, becomes sued immediately for six indicators. The sixth, if someone has not begun to count and has not counted so much, is a mention that the wife is ex. nine0005

So far, there is no reason to be afraid of the ninth wave of mutual civil lawsuits among netizens. Legal consciousness among us, ordinary citizens, is not as developed as in the West. But this is a livelihood. As soon as it grows up, then everything will begin. Fortunately, the government prepared the legislative base for this in advance.

Let's see how much this law will help her herself. You probably won't have to wait long for the first lawsuits.

The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors

What is the secret of personal life and how to punish the one who violated it?

03/22/2019
Author: 34mag
38123

It seems that in the West the sanctity of private life is elevated to the absolute (although the profession of paparazzi is quite a bread one). What do we have? We deal with the concept of privacy in the Belarusian law and figure out how to punish the diligent reader of your Facebook correspondence.

What is "private life" according to the law?

In world practice, when people talk about the protection of the right to privacy, they most often use the concept of “personal data”. Inside it, a narrower one is distinguished - “sensitive information” (sensitive personal data). Sensitive information usually includes information about racial, ethnic origin, religious beliefs, political opinions, health and sexual life. nine0005

Belarusian law is not very sensitive to sensitive information. The concept of privacy in it is extremely vague and is assembled from different documents, like a puzzle. The most complete information about the secret of personal life is written in the old, 1996, piece of paper with the endless title "Instruction on the mode of access to documents containing information related to the secret of the private life of citizens . ..". This instruction regulates access to documents in archives, however, it gives some idea of how the privacy boundaries of each Belarus(s) are delineated. nine0005

According to this document, information is sensitive:

- about health, family and intimate relationships;
- about the circumstances of birth, adoption, divorce;
- about personal habits and inclinations;
- personal correspondence and correspondence, diary, telephone, telegraph, video, audio and other types of information storage;
- about property status, sources of income;
- on activities containing commercial secrets; nine0099 - on intellectual property;
- information, the disclosure of which poses a threat to the personal safety of citizens, the safety of their family members and property;
- on the participation of citizens in the actions of judicial and investigative bodies as accused, defendants, witnesses, and so on, as well as on accusations of abuse of power or official position.

If any of the above leaked somewhere without your consent, you can sculpt a privacy lawsuit. nine0005

What Belarusian laws protect your privacy?

The Constitution of the Republic of Belarus (Art. 28) guarantees the right to protection from unlawful interference with your privacy, including encroachment on the secrecy of correspondence, telephone and other messages, on your honor and dignity.

The Civil Code of the Republic of Belarus (Article 151) calls inalienable and non-transferable such intangible benefits as personal dignity, honor and good name, privacy, personal and family secrets, and much more. If a person dies, all these things can be protected by his heirs. nine0005

The Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Information, Informatization and Protection of Information” (Articles 17-18) classifies information about the private life of an individual and his personal data as information whose distribution and (or) provision is limited. If any people (or websites) want to get information about your private life, they must get your permission. What can be considered a resolution is not really described anywhere.

The Mass Media Law (Article 34) obliges journalists to obtain consent to photograph or film you. However, if you find yourself in a public space or at a mass event, then you can be filmed as much as they like. nine0005

What can be considered a breach of privacy?

Journalists flew a drone over your villa in Smolevichi, filmed you hanging out with top models in the pool, and posted a spectacular photo gallery on the Internet.

The newspaper Zdorovye published an advertisement for a plastic surgery clinic and mentioned you as its client.

An article has been published on the Internet in which your wife details her version of your breakup and attaches your pub membership as an argument. nine0005

Your ex-boyfriend came into your office during a meeting and told everyone you were gay.

Your girlfriend (former) published your correspondence from VK in a public with memes.

An unknown posted a video on YouTube about how you, without changing the mouthpiece, smoke a hookah in a club with someone else's wife.

And much, much, much more.

How to punish a person who has violated privacy?

Belarusian law provides for administrative and criminal liability for violation of privacy. nine0005

If the court considers that the disclosure of a secret really harmed your rights, freedoms and legitimate interests, then the attacker can be tried under Art. 179 of the Criminal Code. Punishment varied: fine, community service, arrest.

If a person who disclosed sensitive information obtained it due to some professional or service opportunities, he may also be punished under Article 22.13 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. The scoundrel faces a fine of 4 to 20 basic units.

To smooth out the sadness from the leakage of personal information, money can be shaken off the offender (Article 152 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Belarus). The amount of compensation for non-pecuniary damage depends on a variety of circumstances. The judge will have to somehow assess the extent of your physical and moral suffering. nine0005

If you do not want to go to court, you can send a claim to the violator, in which you state your requirements, including stating monetary claims. If he agrees to make amends, then why not.

Nuances of wording

If someone has spread information that harms your reputation, but the “evil tongue” has no evidence that this is true, you can go to court not with a claim for the protection of privacy, but with a claim for the protection of honor and dignity (153 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Belarus "Protection of honor, dignity and business reputation"). Here, too, you can claim compensation for damages and non-pecuniary damage. nine0005

You may also be interested in the articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus “Slander” and “Insult”.

All privacy cases are dealt with on an individual basis. Belarusian law does not provide general algorithms that could guide the courts.

“I am a journalist/photographer. How can I protect myself from privacy lawsuits?”

Do not publish photos from a private area or private party without consent; photographs of those injured and deceased in road accidents; portrait shots from medical institutions; pictures of children without the consent of their parents. nine0005

Do not publish a person's personal information without their consent. Even if these data are obtained from the official commentary of the prosecutor.

Do not publish a story about a personal conflict with only one side commenting.

Do not post screenshots on social media posts. Embed them using the embed code. In this case, if the user wants to hide the post, it will disappear on your resource as well. Privacy will not be affected.

Do not publish correspondence without the consent of all its participants. Yes, you can make a publication with cover-up of all personal data in Photoshop, but this is not a panacea: if the dialogue is such that its participants are easily recognized by their acquaintances, troubles are possible. nine0005

If there is a suspicion that information may be sensitive, it is better to refuse to publish it. To hell with traffic!