Deck 16: Invasion of Privacy

Question 1

What do we mean when we use the term 'privacy' in the context of claims in tort law?
Select all appropriate answers from the list.

A) the idea of being free from an 'unwanted gaze'
B) The idea of being 'left alone'
C) The idea that no one has a right to know things about you that you don't want them to know
D) The idea that people who are not celebrities have an unfettered right for their personal lives not to be invaded
E) The idea that everyone has an unfettered right for their personal lives not to be invaded
F) The idea that sometimes people's personal lives ought to remain that way

Answer 1

A,B,C,F

Question 2

privacy cases are all about 'celebrities'.

Answer 2

False
Explanation: While many of the cases in this area are taken by people who are famous in some way, others are not. This might be because famous people are more likely to have their private lives infringed in some way, such as by media intrusion but 'ordinary' people can be affected too (see

Question 3

In claims for breach of confidence, it is a defence to show that the information made public was in the _______ _________.

Answer 3

public interest
Explanation: claims for breach of confidence, it is a defence to show that the information made public was in the public interest.

Question 4

In Campbell v Mirror Group Newspapers, Lord Nicholls commented that the decision in the case, and the way it had been decided, had essentially created a tort of what?

A) Misuse of private information
B) Invasion of privacy
C) Breach of confidence

Question 5

Following Campbell v Mirror Group Newspapers [2004], claimants need first to show that they had 'a reasonable expectation of privacy' in order to be able to succeed.

Question 6

In Campbell v Mirror Group Newspapers [2004], Baroness Hale said that the outcome may have been different if Naomi Campbell had merely been 'going about her business in a private street'. This was because '[r]eaders will obviously be interested to see how she looks if and when she pops out to the shops for a _______ _________ _______'.

Question 7

Developments in the law relating to privacy have been spurred by which of the following things?
Please select all that apply.

A) Reinterpretation of the requirements of breach of confidence
B) The passage of the Human Rights Act
C) European jurisprudence
D) The Independent Press Standards Organisation (formerly the Press Complaints Commission) Code of Practice

Question 8

Section 12(4) of the Human Rights Act 1998 applies directly to privacy claims and requires any court deciding a human rights-based privacy claim to have particular regard to what?

A) The Convention right to freedom of expression and the extent to which the material is already in the public domain
B) The Convention right to freedom of expression and whether the claimant is known for courting publicity
C) The Convention right to freedom of expression and the right to make a profit by publishing information

Question 9

In privacy cases, the right to freedom of expression is 'the trump card that always wins'.

Question 10

Which of these claimants ultimately won their privacy case?

A) Naomi Campbell
B) Michael Douglas and Katherine Zeta-Jones
C) Elton John
D) Mrs Wainwright
E) Jamie Theakston
F) Rio Ferdinand
G) Max Mosely
H) David Murray (son of JK Rowling)
I) Ryan Giggs
J) Howard Donald from Take That
K) Paul Weller
L) AAA (child fathered by Boris Johnson)
M) Sir Cliff Richard