Tweeters Take Note: Privacy Laws Are There For A Reason

You wonder whose sigh of relief was the biggest when the Metropolitan Police asked for investigations into the BBC to be paused.

- DAVID BANKS

The BBC, the presenter at the centre of it all, or The Sun – all had taken their turn as the focus of the social media mob that has contributed to the extraordinary nature of this story.

A few years ago it would have unfolded in a very different way. If The Sun was confident of its sources, and evidence, the presenter would have been unveiled on its front page (as well as 4, 5, 6 and 7) and that would have been the end of that, barring any action in a libel court that might ensue.

Now privacy has intervened in the progress from tip-off to redtop splash, and those under investigation for potential misdeeds often have a “reasonable expectation of privacy” while the investigation proceeds.

There is an irony here in that one of the cases that established this right to privacy involved the BBC, after it flew a helicopter over the home of Sir Cliff Richard during a police search. The police inquiry came to naught, Sir Cliff was never arrested, or charged, but, devastated by the BBC’s coverage, he took them to court for breach of his privacy.