California Passes New Anti-Paparazzi Law

A new anti-paparazzi law in California is seeking to protect the privacy of celebrities. The new anti-paparazzi law was signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and can lead to photographers now being sued for taking unauthorized photographs. It's a really good first step for the state of California, because things have been getting out of control recently. With photographers taking nude pictures of celebrities in their homes, it has gotten to the point that a line needed to be drawn in the sand. Now California and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger are going to be at the forefront of cleaning up this industry.

This was one of the newest bills that Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law on Sunday, and will not just end at targeting photographers that take photos which invade the privacy of celebrities. This bill is also going to target any media outlet that decides to purchase or distribute these pictures. This helps to remove one of the big ways that these photographers can make money off of less than savory pictures, and by aiming the legislation at the media outlets, it will make them much less likely to seek out pictures like this. This stuff has become big business unfortunately, and it will be a big move for unlawful pictures to be kept out of the news.

This is not to say that all celebrity photographers cross the line when it comes to taking pictures. Actually the opposite is probably true, where many photographers just make sure to be on the scene when a movie is premiering or a celebrity event is taking place. It is just the few bad apples that do cross the line that are drawing negative attention to the celebrity photograph business as a whole. Now the next question is going to be whether this law gets enforced, and who the first judge will be that sides with a celebrity before something going through an extended and expensive trial for the state.

The other thing to keep in mind about celebrity photographs, as mentioned in a CNN article I linked below, is that many times the celebrities are selling the personal photographs themselves. When a popular celebrity is about to have a baby, there is often the chance to sell those photographs for a lot of money up front, which the magazine pays to have exclusive publishing rights to the photos. I know one thing about this new law, and that is that Britney Spears and several other celebrities are going to be extremely excited to hear about it passing. The first real anti-paparazzi law in a while could be groundbreaking, but first it has to be enforced. The law goes into effect in January, and at that point fines of up to $50,000 can be levied against offenders. Will it work?

Source: CNN Article