Much has been said of William James Sidis’ efforts to live a life of solitude – or at the very least, a private, anonymous, or reserved one as defined by Alan Westin’s thoughtful account in his 1967 article, Privacy and Freedom (Solove and Schwartz 43). Sidis himself noted “The only way to live the perfect life is to live it in seclusion” (Ibid 3). The decision by C.J. Clark of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit controverted Sidis’ plan to remain in seclusion, and has not been entirely overcome in the many years since. Below I will discuss whether there would have been any way for Sidis (or any other public figure) to retreat to obscurity and whether a celebrity is always subject to a “where is he now” report. Sidis made sincere …show more content…
FR Pub. Corporation 807). Judge Clark further acknowledged that, “the work possesses great reader interest, for it is both amusing and instructive; but it may be fairly described as a ruthless exposure of a once public character” (Ibid 807-808). Nevertheless, Judge Clark noted that “none of the cited rulings goes so far as to prevent a newspaper or magazine from publishing the truth about a person, however intimate, revealing, or harmful the truth may be” (Ibid 808). The decision cited Warren and Brandeis’s famous words indicating the right and need for privacy in the modern world, within certain limits – particularly regarding public officers. Still, Clark noted, “‘even public figures were not to be stripped bare.’…the matters which concern the private life, habits, acts, and relations of an individual…have no legitimate connection with his fitness for a public office” (Ibid 809) Clark even conceded that “Sidis today is neither politician, public administrator, nor statesman. Even if he were, some of the personal details revealed were of the sort that Warren and Brandeis believed ‘all men alike are entitled to keep from popular curiosity’” (Ibid). Despite Clark’s clear acknowledgement of Sidis’ privacy rights, and despite his dependency on Warren and Brandeis’ words, his decision …show more content…
New York Times v. Sullivan (1964) changed the nature of libel suits by establishing that public figures must prove “‘actual malice’” to recover on a liability claim (Ibid 368) (Epstein and Walker 509). Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts (1967) applied this standard to all public figures. In Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. (1974), Justice Powell held that private individuals were afforded more protection, noting that private citizens have less access to media channels and thus less ability to rebut defamatory articles published about them (Duhart 374). However, public figures, he contends, are much like public officials in that they “‘must accept certain necessary consequences of that involvement in public affairs’” (Ibid). Furthermore, decisions that cite Sidis, such as Friedan v. Friedan (1976), continue to ignore the passing of time as a means of abating one’s status as a public figure (Ibid). Friedan had been out of the public eye for “only” sixteen years; Sidis had sought seclusion for nearly thirty. “Thirty years ' retirement from public life should end the general public 's interest in the plaintiff14” yet evidently it does not always do so (Digital Repository at Maurer Law 420). Unfortunately, it is still true that “the passage of time usually has little or no effect on public figure status.” (Duhart
One of the most famous cases of the mid-nineties (and possibly one of the most controversial) of the wealthy being above the law is the O.J. Simpson trial, who fatally stabbed his ex-wife Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman. Being accused of murder, the court had sufficient biological and psychological evidence to prove Simpson’s act of murder. However, Simpson was found not guilty by the jury and lives as a fre...
“NEW YORK TIMES v. UNITED STATES.” The Oyez Project. llT Chicago-Kent College Of Law, n.d. Web. 5 Dec. 2013.
For more than a dozen years, Clarence Earl Gideon lay buried in a nondescript, unmarked grave in Hannibal, Missouri. Most Americans outside of the legal community (and many within it) would neither recognize Gideon's name, nor understand the seismic impact he had on our legal system. Fortunately, Anthony Lewis, the renowned journalist now retired from The New York Times, chronicled Gideon's saga from the filing of his hand-written petition for writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court to the momentous decision of March 18, 1963. Lewis brings to life the story of the man behind the case, the legal machinations of the court appointed lawyer (and others working with him) toiling on Gideon's behalf and the inner-workings of the Supreme Court. By telling the story, Lewis has preserved an important piece of legal and social history and we are all the richer for his doing so.
All throughout history civil liberties have been established, fought for, and abused. During the first quarter of the twentieth century, the civil liberties in the United States of America were tested. There were many events where the freedoms that our founding fathers had fought for Passive Voice (consider revising). Prejudice, fear, and racism all played a role during these events, during many of which they decided the outcome. Two events that demonstrate when the civil liberties in America were tested were during the trial of Sacco and Vanzettii and Schenek v. United States.
...f proofs of false statement made by Pickering, the High School teacher had the right to express his opinion publicly about issues that he considered as important to the society. Because no abuse or offense had been made in the letter, he could not be fired. No punishment could be placed by the S.C because it required more proceeding.
Chamberlain, Kenneth, “History: The Day the Freedom of Information Act Expanded”. Nationaljournal.com 20 Nov. 2012 General OneFile. Web 26 April 2014.
History is taught and perceived in different ways throughout the country, however historians and teachers play a major role in how history is understood. My history teacher made me understand that the African-American slaves suffered adversity in different manners but never explained how their efforts led to a revolution in America. This gap has been filled by David Roediger in his book Seizing freedom where he reminds us of what we have missed in our prominent and scholarly accounts of emancipation and what we might gain by revisiting an era when “profound and unimaginable changes exploded” across the country(p.9). In reference to WEB Du Bois analysis of Civil war as workers strike, David Roediger accounts for the upsurge and
Public organizations and companies can easily circumvent, misrepresent, or conceal events in the public media in favor of their own interests. The article “UC Davis Pepper-spray Burial Effort Spotlights Online Image Gurus,” by Christopher Cadelago, discusses how UC Davis, a public organization, attempted to hide a past incident in online search engines in order to protect the school’s public image. The incident took place in 2011 at Davis where peaceful protesters were pepper-sprayed by police. Though this was over five years ago, UC Davis recently tried to repair their online reputation by paying public relation consultants over $175,000 to hide online search results and postings pertaining to the incident. It is evident that organizations
Remy, Richard C., Gary E. Clayton, and John J. Patrick. "Supreme Court Cases." Civics Today. Columbus, Ohio: Glencoe, 2008. 796. Print.
A devastating sentence for Guthmiller may already have caught your attention; however, does not even come close to the worst of these cases. In an article posted on The Washington Post, Nancy Gertner, a former federal district judge and professor at Harvard Law school, and Chiraag Bains, a former
Throughout history freedom has had many different meanings and definitions; based on race, gender, and ethnicity. According to the dictionary freedom means the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint (“freedom” def. 1). Freedom may seem like something given to everyone however it was something workers had to fight for. Not everyone believed that workers’ rights needed to be changed, which led to a long battle between workers, employers and the government. To the working class people freedom meant making higher wages, having regulated hours, workable conditions and the right to free speech.
The sentence that says “technology has made privacy a relic of that past” is saying that within the New World of technology, Cyberspace, we no longer have our own personal privacy. Alan Westin defines privacy as, ““Privacy is the claim of individuals, groups, or institutions to determine for themselves when, how, and to what extent information about them is communicated to others.” [2]. When you step into this world we live in today, we no longer have just the aspect of the Old World. We are born into this New World a majority of the time. In this New World, all of our actions are presented to the world for everyone to easily see. We can no longer do things without the entire world knowing. As an example, in the Old World, at the age of 15 we could sit at a park bench and crack open an ice cold beer to drink with a friend. This would cause no problems, and bring no harm to anyone or anything. If you were caught in this occasion, drinking under the age of 21, that would be breaking the law. You would more than likely not get in trouble at all, and if you did, it would be nothing more than a slap on the wrist and a report to your parents. If this sort of thing was to happen today in the New World, the outcome would have been completely different. In this New World, the privacy of a 15 year old teenager getting a slap on the wrist for drinking 1 can of beer now turns into your entire community knowing about it through the means of the newspaper, TV news, internet news, easily available police reports, and even the community around you gossiping about it all over social media such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. So simply going from the Old World to the New World, a 15 year old drinking a can of beer turned into a sl...
The article “When Privacy Is Theft” from The New York Review of Books published online on November 21, 2013 provides Margaret Atwood, an award winning novelist, the opportunity to closely examine the symbolism, purpose, and thought process behind Dave Eggers widely successful novel The Circle, published in October 2013 (“Margaret Atwood”). Atwood presents much evidence and analysis of Eggers’ work to arrive inductively at the strong argument that “To live entirely in public is a form of solitary confinement” (Atwood). Atwood began her inductive reasoning by first examining the central ideas, or perhaps motifs, present in Eggers’ The Circle. She examines the idea of privacy, more specifically who owns and controls individual and collective privacy, by arguing “What is withheld can be as
Analyse whether the concept of the ‘public interest’ provides journalists with the right to invade the privacy of those in the public eye.
SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Feb. 2014. Sisto, Joseph. " Do Celebrities Forfeit the Right to Privacy?"