Privacy on the beach
The Press Complaints Commission in the UK can change its mind. And the right of privacy can now be asserted on the beach as a result.
First, the change of mind. In 2000, the PCC held that newsreader Anna Ford did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy sufficient to restrain publication by OK! magazine of photos taken of her and her husband subathing on a private beach. This week, in an all-but identical case, the PCC held that model Elle Macpherson did have a sufficient expectation of privacy to complain about photos taken of her and her children sunbathing on a private beach on a private island. Roy Greenslade says that this “certainly qualifies” for the hackneyed cliché “landmark decision”, and I think he is right. …