You can tell who's hot in Hollywood by the number of paparazzi following in their wake. Apparently Britney is out and Miley is in. Only 6 paparazzi were following popwreck Britney Spears last week, while a hoard of 30 jostled for snaps of Miley Cyrus, star of Disney's popular TV show Hannah Montana.
Paparazzi are celebrity hunters who use aggressive and intrusive tactics to photograph, videotape or record the private lives of the rich and famous and their families and then sell those illegally-obtained images. In California, paparazzi have a First Amendment right to photograph celebrities and public figures in public places. Unfortunately, some paparazzi use overly aggressive tactics that conflict with the Constitutional rights of their victims. Traffic accidents have been caused by frightened celebrities fleeing from packs of paparazzi. Angry celebrities pushed to their limits by incessant and aggressive paparazzi sometimes lash out in frustration. Celebrities are fighting the invasion of privacy by charging belligerent paparazzi with criminal trespass, assault, false imprisonment, stalking and battery.
On January 1, 1999, California enacted the nation's first civil anti-paparazzi law. The law protects celebrities from both the physical invasion of privacy from trespass and the constructive invasion of privacy from remote audio- or video-enhancing devices. On September 30, 2005, the law was expanded to punish paparazzi for altercations caused by their activities. The new law triples damages that can be awarded to a celebrity and strips photographers of the right to profit from illegally-obtained images. In addition to a civil lawsuit, paparazzi in California may now be subject to criminal charges including assault, assault with a deadly weapon, battery, conspiracy, false imprisonment, stalking and trespass.
Unruly paparazzi have created a difficult work climate for legitimate photographers and photojournalists. Some celebrities have become hyper-sensitive in protecting their privacy. While paparazzi are often charged with misdemeanors, criminal charges can result in jail time, heavy fines and significant loss of income when photos can't be sold.
What happenes when a group of people are following you everywhere and we are not movie stars....they stalk us the minute we leave the house until we get back in...An exboyfriend works for homeland security and a report was placed against him for harrassment, assault & stalking...After this police report was made - he is now using authorities of all types to his own advantage against stalking us and it has escalated tremendously...These people are playing the role of paparazzis...my daughter's gym filmed a clip - editing it together to put on "You Tube"..my daughter came out clearly in this commercial clip and homeland security the stalker made it possible to cut her out completely not wanting her to be seen by the public in any way....for some reason this type of stalking is kept quiet but they are playing the paparazzi role very descreet...the weird thing is that they don't want the public to know they are doing this...why not have real paparazzi expose these people to light and turn it around on them...Need advice...please respond your opinion...
I know my case in New Jersey will not be judged fairly...because the stalker, harrasser & assault works for homeland security and is using all the authorities to protect himself and against us...we need our case to be heard outside of New Jersey. What can my daughter and I do? Who can we talk to?Please help...
I would like to add...for a fact our phones are tapped, my car is being track everywhere we go, my house is bugged with listening devices by the ex-boyfriend - homeland security. We are in fear for our lives!Opinions, please.....