The infant son of J K Rowling "M", issued a court case against a photographic agency for breach of his right to respect for his privacy under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Initially the case was dismissed but on appeal by M the question posed was whether there was a reasonable expectation of privacy. If the answer was yes, then the question asked was how the balance should be struck as between the child's privacy and the publisher's right to publish. The fact that the child was the child of a famous author wasn't enough to consider that he had no reasonable expectation of privacy. The case was allowed on appeal and will be permitted to proceed to trial. The judge said that the law should protect children from intrusive media attention, particularly where the photographs taken in a public place would be objected to on his behalf.
Hugh Grant, Liz Hurley and husband Arun Nayer have recently won £58,000 in damages for invasion of their privacy by photos taken by a photographic agency whilst they were on holiday in a private resort in the Maldives. Hurley was particularly upset that photos were taken of Hurley's son playing naked on the beach. Several newspapers were also ordered to contribute to the damages.
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