Privacy Laws

A Privacy Law is not something that people think about on a daily basis. However, if
they were not in place or did not adapt to our ever changing society, people would definitely be
thinking of them a lot more. For example, what if someone was hacking into your emails and
posting your private information !ith not privacy laws in place there would be nothing that
could be done about that situation, legally speaking. !hat is exactly is privacy "very person has
their own sense of what #privacy$ is. %ome consider privacy a right while others consider it a
privilege. Personally, & consider privacy a right, however, & am not the type of person who has
anything to hide. & am hoping to discover how and why Privacy Laws have changed over the past
few decades. Privacy laws come into place because, while in the First Amendment of the
'onstitution there is the right to Freedom of the Press the government wants it to be used for the
bettering of the public rather than for exposing individual(s intimate or inappropriate secrets. the
official definition of Privacy Laws is that they are #)egulation or statute that protects a person(s
right to be left alone, and governs collection, storage, and release of his or her financial, medical,
and other personal information$ *+usiness ,ictionary -. /ar 01.23. Privacy laws are in need of
a change because of the development in technology over the past three decades as well as the
increase in Popular 'ultural *Pop 'ulture3 interest and the government(s steps to prevent events
such as terrorism.
4he Privacy Act of .562 #prohibits disclosure of these records without the written
consent of the individual*s3 to whom the records pertain unless one of the twelve disclosure
exceptions enumerated in the Act applies.$ *HH%, 7.,3. %ince .562 the world has come a long
way, especially in technology. A few of the advancements with the most effects on privacy
include &nternet, /obile phones, social networking, and digital photography8 videography
*!harton 9niversity of Pennsylvania, 01153. +ack 21 years ago it was easier to control the
access people had to other people and their business. 7ews reporters and :ournalists back then
would have to use interviews and do more interactive #snooping$ to find out about a source or a
person and even then they may not get all of the :uicy details. 7ow, the internet makes it easy to
find hidden records as well as for pictures and videos to be uploaded for everyone to see by the
click of a few buttons. 4echnologies will continue to grow and social networking and sharing
will still remain bigger than ever. 4he evolution of technology will always result in the evolution
of goverment and laws. 7ew applications for technology will all present their own different
challenges in protecting privacy. For example, how is it handled if a person is not caught in their
best moment, in the back of another person(s picture that is shared over the internet )ight now
if the picture were posted on &nstagram, their privacy policy states that they do not knowingly
consent to inappropriate postings, children under the age of .-, etc *&nstagram, 01.-3. +ut the
big part of that is #knowingly,$ and it is hard for a social media as popular as instagram that can
knowingly keep up with all of it(s users and their actions.
%peaking of social networking and sharing, media has become bigger than ever. &n past
decades people had to work exponentially hard to broadcast themselves, and on a bigger scale, to
become famous. 7ow one can achieve those goals simply by tweeting something relatable8
funny8 or a cover of themselves singing really well. ;nce those tweets hit the internet, they are
there to stay and grow. /any celebrities have achieved their fame through social media, one of
the most famous young adults in the world, <ustin +ieber, achieved his fame and fortune through
=ou4ube. 7owadays, it seems like anyone can get famous off of the internet, the popular phone
application >ine, which features only six second videos, has proved that six seconds is enough to
do intense marketing, search for potential actors, as well as offer #meet and greets.$ 4hese were
people :ust like you and me who one day starting filming their self for six seconds and now they
are on ?ood /orning America and traveling the world. ;nce put into perspective, it is absolutely
ama@ing how media and technology work these days.
4he increase in media coverage within pop culture over the past few decades has grown
consistently . 4he advancement of cameras and videos and how they can be shared world wide
Auickly has lead to a lot of privacy invasion. 4he most common form of privacy invasion done
within pop culture is through the papara@@i. Papara@@i are paid photographers whose photos go to
maga@ines and entertainment agencies. 'ertain shots that these papara@@i get can earn extremely
large amounts of money which make the practice enticing. A lot of the people who are papara@@i
are men, these men do not hold back asking personal Auestions or even going to extreme
measures to see a celebrity and take their picture.!hile they play a huge part in media to spread
trends and make pop stars bigger than ever, their habits are known to be dangerous and almost
not even worth it. /any celebrities and even nonB celebrities have come together to try and reign
in the institution of papara@@i by creating specific privacy laws they must abide to. /any of these
laws are to keep everyone safe physically and even emotionally. 4here are websites to aid these
efforts like Papara@@iBreform.com where petitions can be found as well as updated privacy laws.
;n these websites, the main arguments are to protect the identity and safety of children, also
drawing a line between stalking and interviewing, and also to avoid indecent exposure and
embarrassment. Photos these days have the ability to make or break a celebrity so they want to
restrict how a photograph can be obtained and keep detrimental ones from surfacing to the
media.
4he government(s role in Privacy Laws is clearly a large piece. 4he government created
the privacy laws to help the people but they are also Auestioned for their infiltration of privacy.
4he government has admitted to wire tapping phone calls among other invasive acts. !hile this
is said to be done to protect the public from events like finding potential terrorists, many feel like
this is an unnecessary invasion of privacy. ;ver the years many reforms and changes have been
made to the laws. +eginning with the Privacy Act of .562 when there was the reali@ation that the
First Amendment had a sort of loop hole in it that infringed people(s right to privacy with the
right of press. 7ow the most current set of laws prevent people from hacking into other(s
personal things, as well as keeping people from getting too close, as well as frowning upon
embarrassment and bullying. 4here is also the Free of &nformation Act which #allows
individuals to reAuest access to federal agency records, except to the extent records are claimed
as exempt from disclosure under one or more of the nine *53 exemptions of the Freedom of
&nformation Act.$ *HH%, 7.,.3 4his involves cases and other :udicial information which is
believed to be information that should be available to the public. However, the government has
to regulate it to protect individuals for example a lot of information on cases involving minors
are not available. Also, information such as addresses, family members, etc are kept hidden to
avoid harassment. 4his type of information can be detrimental to an individual, however, some
information could help the public. For example, if a person in a case had hidden a bomb or had
an attack on the common people planned ahead, the press can report that and people near that
area can be kept safe and away from the danger.
4he changes made to Privacy Laws over the past 21 years have been necessary to keep up
with the constant evolution of the government and our society as a whole. & began this inAuiry
paper wondering how and why these Laws have changed, and & am Auite satisfied with what &
have found. /any reasons are behind the changes and many more still need to be made as
society continues to grow. %omewhere there is a happy medium between keeping individuals
safe and keeping the public face without intruding either, we :ust have to find it.
+ibliography
C'enter for ,emocracy D 4echnology E Feeping the &nternet ;pen, &nnovative and Free.C
4estimony of ,eirdre /ulligan before the %enate 'ommittee on 'ommerce, %cience and
4ransportation %ubcommittee on 'ommunications. 7.p., 0G <une 01.1. !eb. 12 /ay
01.2.
4he "conomist. CFree %peech v Private Life.C 4he "conomist. 4he "conomist 7ewspaper, -1
Apr. 01... !eb. 12 /ay 01.2!ilshusen, ?regory '.C&nstagram.C Privacy Policy H. 7.p.,
n.d. !eb. 12 /ay 01.2.
C4he PAPA)AII& )eform &nitiative B Legal.C 4he PAPA)AII& )eform &nitiative B Legal.
7.p., n.d. !eb. 0J /ar. 01.2.
CPrivacyK Federal Law %hould +e 9pdated to Address 'hanging 4echnology Landscape.C 9.%.
?A; B. 7.p., -. <uly 01.0. !eb. 12 /ay 01.2.
CPrivacy Law E %+A.gov.C Privacy Law E %+A.gov. 7.p., n.d. !eb. 0J /ar. 01.2