Britney, Lindsay and Scarlett -- Can Anti-Paparazzi Laws Protect Our Endangered Starlets?
Posted by Kraig Baker
The LA Times reported another Paparazzi incident today. This time Scarlett Johansson hit a car carrying a family while trying to elude paparazzi who followed her home. Last month someone from Britney Spears' house shot a paparazzi with a pellet gun. Two months ago a celebrity photographer rammed Lindsay Lohan's car. With the voracious American appetite for all things celebrity and the intense competition among celebrity magazines, it's inevitable that we will have additional incidents. More to the point from a privacy perspective, look for additional anti-paparazzi legislation in California and other states within the next year.
It will be interesting to see how broadly this legislation will be drafted. For instance, will it only apply to celebrities or will it apply to the general public? Will it be apply only to photographers or will it extend to those using boom microphones and other intrusive technology? Will it extend to the public taking camera photos of celebrities? This kind of legislation could be the first step to creating zones of privacy in public spaces.
For a report on the Scarlett Johansson incident, click here.
It just hit me today, as I was watching news footage of the minor traffic incident with Paris Hilton, that the news took a small incident and turned it into Paris looking like a spoiled brat. When all anyone in that car was doing was escaping the blinding flashbulbs, and unbelievable crowd gathered around their car. Thank goodness the police saw the situation for what it was and released them without question. How can we try to hold these people accountable for accidents and incidents that are directly caused by others.
I am just an average American citizen and the paparazzi make ME sick. I don't ever see them, nor would I ever want to! I understand that Celebrities are wanting a little of the action, but no one anywhere wants so much of it that they cannot even leave their house, or for some their closet with no windows, without being bombarded by as many as twenty people every second. Privacy IS a guaranteed right for most American citizens, yet I cannot go to a grocery store, or even surf the web without seeing some poor person and all of their SUPPOSED problems, when the only problem I see is the HOUNDS tracking them like a poor fox in a cruel hunt. Half of the stories are bogus, and the other half should not be realized until the people personally involved are willing to share it.
The true tragedy, however, lies in the hands of the millions of Americans that buy the magazines that publish such rubbish. Until our society can recognize that privacy in anyone's life should be respected those hounds will remain. Thank you for listening to my rant, I just hope the situation improves before something tragic happens.
I agree it makes me sick to see these photographers mobing these celebrities and selling them to people for magazines and other things for thousands of dollars. All celebrities are, are regular people like us with successful careers. I definately agree with your statements. 13 year old,
Erin Long