Do Celebrities lose their right to privacy when they become famous?

As we all know, many celebrities are famous because they crave the media limelight but does that come at a price in the form of their privacy?

In the current technological age, ordinary people have access to smart phones with built in cameras and have ability to upload a picture to the web in a matter of seconds. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media platforms are full of ‘spotted’ celebrities going about their daily lives. Is it not unethical to pry into a person’s life regardless of their social status? If we did this to a random person on the street would we have a bigger issue on our hands of perhaps even being branded as a stalker?

Those pictures you admire/criticise in newspapers and glossy magazines, someone paid the paparazzi to publish them. How is this ethical? That the photographer needs permission for the picture to be used but the celebrity doesn’t get an option?

In the modern day, digital media has made it difficult for the paparazzi, with competition from the average citizen’s automatic photo uploads and therefore are going to extreme lengths to get their shot which can be unrivalled.

With technology being so advanced, paparazzi have access to James Bond style gadgets such as drones with cameras that can be concealed on their clothing that are invisible to the naked eye; this creates a massive ethical issue of deception as the person doesn’t even stand a chance of hiding themselves. Other methods have been going undercover to gain their million dollar shot; with dressing up as an interior designer to get into the living room of the stars. Take for example Julia Roberts’ pregnancy photograph, taken by the German paparazzi Hans Paul that was worth £73,000.

So where are the boundaries for the paparazzi? Or aren’t there anymore? Do celebrities lose their rights to privacy because they appear in the public eye so many times?

Again this topic gained a lot of attention in Germany when the famous ex-formula one driver Michael Schumacher had a skiing accident in Grenoble on the 30^th December 2013 and has been lying in coma since. But even in this horrible and dramatic situation the paparazzi still try everything to get a picture of the vulnerable star. Someone even dressed up as a priest to get inside, but was luckily he was caught.

I don’t like this kind of unethical medial attention and scandal. I think the stars are a part of the public life and have to expect to get photographed in the public, but also they have a right of privacy when it comes to unexpected conditions like an accident. Even if we want it, we don’t have the right to know everything about someone and “we” don’t have the right to ignore his or her right of privacy.

What do you think?

Did they choose to be famous and have to deal with it? Or do you agree with me? 

L.V.M & L.C