Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2020
Abstract
The battle between First Amendment expression and privacy interests in twenty-first century America is in full force. In Foster v. Svenson, a photographer used a high-powered camera to take snapshots of his neighbors. The New York court ruled that it was art and therefore immune from New York’s privacy statute. Constrained by New York’s ineffective privacy statute, the court’s ruling included a cry for the New York legislature to act.
Privacy has become an increasingly powerful right in American law, especially with the growth of technology. Yet the problem with Foster and the New York statute is that the sole focus is on whether the First Amendment or privacy interests should prevail. While other American courts have provided more equitable solutions to this battle, New York’s have fallen short. To ensure that the First Amendment’s protections for art do not run roughshod over privacy rights, New York should move toward a more equitable solution: its legislature should revise the state’s privacy statute and its courts should permit unjust enrichment claims to create a balance between these two rights. Doing so would help protect privacy rights against modern technological capabilities.
Recommended Citation
11 Harv. J. Sports & Ent. L. 41 (2020)
Included in
First Amendment Commons, Law and Philosophy Commons, Legal History Commons, Privacy Law Commons, Torts Commons
Comments
Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law, Vol. 11, Issue 1 (Winter 2020), pp. 41-72