Laws and Regulations

Privacy can be exemplified by a situation whereby an individual's confidential details that should only be disclosed in a private are not disclosed to a third party. This could be because the disclosure could cause embarrassment or bring emotional distress to people of reasonable sensitivities. The right of privacy is only provided to people who reside in places or use services that are considered to be private. They may include hotel rooms, home or telephone booth. Protection is not given for information that is on the public domain, or information is disclosed voluntarily to the public. Privacy protection is offered to people once they are sure that the information they are offering is private, and does not qualify to be heard by the public.

Privacy laws are classified into four categories. The main categories include unreasonably intruding upon the seclusion of other people, for instance, invading in other people’s home through physical means, this includes looking into other people’s window with either cameras and binoculars, or unwanted entries into private premises, searching people’s purses or wallets, persistence and repeated telephone calls, and obtaining various financial data. Another category is whereby there is an appropriation of people’s name or likeness. Successful usage of privacy rights mostly includes the defendant’s application of one’s name on a product, or service (Hudson, 2010).

The laws on privacy have the sole aim of protecting an individual against hurting personal feelings. On the other hand, the core function of publicity laws is protection against unpermitted commercial exploitation of people’s faces and names. The application of both the privacy and publicity laws is done differently in different situations. For instance, in practical issues, the celebrities normally sue under publicity rights, whereas, the public sue under privacy rights. Another category of privacy rights is protecting against publication of private issues, for instance, sexual relationships, family quarrels, data on income tax, people’s photographs in their homes, and medical treatment. The final category includes false publications on people, which is the same as defamation.

The federal laws are not subject to both the privacy and publicity rights. These laws are subjects to the state laws. The laws governing these rights vary from one state to another with some countries employing strict rules on these rights, while other states are not. In case of publicity, where one’s identity has falsely been used, one could be pursued under the federal Lanham Act. The Bill of Rights ensures that the state never deprives the United States citizens some basic rights. The system of justice is not so much into laws against privacy and publicity. However, the future is open for privacy protection rights. For instance, some judges are not inclined into protecting privacy to exceed the cases that are causing claims on the grounds of specified assurances in the Bill of Rights (Breckenridge, 1970).

Some examples of this law are a barcode meant to scan products on the cashier’s register in a store, and credit card number inputting meant to pay for the purchases. Lack of privacy could be extremely serious in some instances. A hypothetical example on the consequences involved once the privacy laws are ignored can be the case where an unmarried schoolteacher in the conservative society purchases contraceptive. The society expects the teacher to be an exemplary role model, who should be in the front line discouraging premarital sex, thus, the teacher could end up losing her job. The invasion of privacy could end up being disastrous in some instances (Standler, 1997).

In conclusion, the laws against privacy and publicity are particularly beneficial in one's daily life. The state should come up with mechanism which makes sure that those who violate these laws are dealt with appropriately. Once these laws are put into place, people’s privacy is enhanced.