Telephone Number Damages

[James A. Landau]

Slate on-line magazine reported today that

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Supermodel Naomi Campbell won a pyrrhic victory earlier this week when a British high-court judge found that the tabloid Daily Mirror had breached her right to privacy when it published details of her treatment for drug addiction, but he also declared that Campbell lacked "frankness and veracity," that she was "manipulative," and that she had lied under oath during the trial. As far as the British media were concerned, the narrow basis for the decision and the modest damages awarded to Campbell ($3,500 for the breach of confidence and another $1,500 in aggravated damages for a separate Mirror article that compared her to a "chocolate soldier") represented a victory for press freedom.

<snip>

The Guardian declared that the "flood of initial right to privacy cases may slow to a trickle as celebrities realise they are unlikely to be awarded telephone number damages for perceived breaches of privacy."
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    Jim Landau
    Systems engineer
    FAA Technical Center (ACB-510/BCI)
    Atlantic City Airport NJ 08405 USA