‘You say tomato …’: A Comparison of English and US Privacy Law Principles

From remote sensing satellites to hidden ‘bra-cams’, technology is revealing all; and, with the click of a mouse, intimate details (and, of course, photographs) of Royals, celebrities, politicians and sportspeople are launched on news sites and social media platforms to millions across the globe. Privacy issues regularly crop up in more serious news fare as well. Witness the so-called Vatileaks scandal in May 2012, where the Vatican complained bitterly that books and news reports disclosing the details of leaked church records, including the Pope’s private correspondence, were a ‘violation of the Pope’s privacy’.1 The law races to catch up, with legislatures and jurists around the world trying to find an appropriate – and often elusive – balance between the individual’s right to be left alone and the public’s right to know.