Thanks for the comments. Bradley, I actually wanted to write about the new paparazzi law, but I ran out of room. Since I had to leave something out, I thought it best to omit the discussion on celebrities and instead focus on the average person. Celebrities are different -- some could argue that by choosing to become an actor or world-class athlete, a person accepts the possibility of fame and everything that comes with it. Plus, celebrities themselves sometimes set up the photos for the paparazzi (which the article you linked to discussed). I wanted to focus on the situation where the individual had no control over the posting at all.

To a certain extent, the sheer volume of blogs, tweets, etc. might limit the harms caused -- there is no way to know everything that is out there, and everyone is susceptible, so we shouldn't hold people accountable based on a blog entry or Facebook picture. But if a potential employer (for example) is searching for a specific person, those blogs posts or tweets that mention that person will likely pop up, so I don't think sheer volume will in fact limit the harm.

Brian, I looked into your question before posting my essay, and from what I could tell, the laws protecting a person's right to privacy only do so within the commercial context, but I may have misread my sources and will take a closer look at this later today.

-- DonnaAckermann - 07 Dec 2009