This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Meyer, C. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

We know better than the courts

Press Complaints Commission

The chairman of the Press Complaints Commission argues vigorously against legislation on privacy and intrusion. He writes: "Statutory regulation is objectionable in principle and incompatible with a properly functioning democracy. (I would be ready to bet that one of these days the State will get out of the business of regulating content in television and radio; and that an expanded system of self-regulation will cover all forms of content delivery.) There are also practical problems. When I became the Prime Minister's press secretary in 1994, the first thing I found in my in-tray was a draft White Paper proposing a Privacy Bill. After innumerable redrafts, it foundered on the intractable problem of defining where private space met public interest; and on the political objection to passing a law from which only those who could afford the legal bills would benefit. None of these objections has gone away."

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?