[Air-L] an ethical question or two

[Peter Timusk]

Charles there is a new decision from the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v
Spencer that states that Internet users have an expectation of privacy.
While I am not answering directly because I am not  a lawyer you may find
this interesting to consider.

Here is the case and it is not long to read. The court I think decides that
the child porn distributor is committing  a serious crime so his privacy
can be invaded.. There are in the decision statements about an Internet
user's privacy expectations that are quite clear and I welcome the courts
statements.

http://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/14233/index.do?r=AAAAAQAjSW50ZXJuZXQgYW5kIHByaXZhY3kgYW5kIGluZGl2aWR1YWwAAAAAAQ




On Mon, Aug 4, 2014 at 1:17 PM, Charles Ess <charles.ess at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear AoIRists,
>
> I am editing a piece for a forthcoming journal issue; it includes two
> screenshots of tweets from Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and a
> screenshot of the Facebook page of a politician running for office in
> 2014, including their pictures and names.
> These are public figures very intentionally engaged in a public activity
> in a medium that functions as a de facto public sphere (or at least an
> approximation thereof).
> There is nothing in the screenshots that could be construed as potentially
> embarrassing, much less libelous, much less potentially warranting
> protection as private.
>
>
> I have gained the impression over the past few years that both in practice
> and in emerging guidelines codes, and law (specifically, based on what
> [little] I know of law surrounding freedom of speech and privacy issues in
> journalism in the U.S., the E.U., and Scandinavia),
> it is permissible to publish these without permission from the politicians
> in question.
>
> At most, if these were tweets and FB pages posted by U.S. politicians
> aimed at U.S. voters, we would have to note that the tweets and pictures
> were de facto copyright by their authors; to my knowledge, however, there
> is no parallel requirement on this side of the pond.
>
> Of course, it's usually when I think I know a good response to an ethical
> dilemma that I turn out to be missing something crucial - so: am I missing
> something crucial, or are we indeed on reasonably safe ground to publish
> the screenshots as is, no permissions required, no copyright notices
> included?
>
> Many thanks in advance,
> - charles ess
>
> Professor in Media Studies
> Department of Media and Communication
> University of Oslo
> P.O. Box 1093 Blindern
> NO-0317
> Oslo Norway
> email: charles.ess at media.uio.no
>
>
>
>
>
>
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