Paparazzi by Drone

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Paparazzi by Drone

Jun 15, 2016

Paparazzi by Drone

"Is your daughter stalked by, like drones? Are there drones flying where she's trying to learn how to swim at age 1?" asked Kanye West after a paparazzi used a drone to watch North West, Kim Kardashian's and Kanye's daughter, in the couple's backyard pool.

Paparazzi using drones, the so called "dronerazzi," are using them to learn whether celebs are home, what time they take their kids to school and when they walk the dog. Not long ago, Miley Cyrus videoed a paparazzi drone as it flew over her Hollywood home. Actress Jennifer Garner complained about drones flying above her back garden.

The intrusiveness of the paparazzi is nothing new. Federico Fellini believed the paparazzi to be like buzzing insects, so much so that in his 1961 film, La Dolce Vita, he named a character playing a photographer "Paparazzo." Fellini explained that "Paparazzo suggests to me a buzzing insect, hovering, darting, stinging."

The paparazzi's actions have ranged from tragic to outrageously invasive. Who can forget Princess Diana's death in a car crash in Paris while being chased by the paparazzi. Decades later, Jennifer Aniston was caught sunbathing topless in her back yard by a paparazzi who scaled her fence for a photo and another papp took a shot from a hill 100 yards away. More recently, paparazzi released photos of Kate Middleton sunbathing in a chateau in the south of France.

Charlize Theron has compared intrusion of the paparazzi to rape.

Not all celebs take such an extreme view. Many recognize the symbiotic relationship between celebs and the paparazzi and exploit that relationship to their advantage.

The conclusion of the article will be posted next week.

This post originally appeared on abovethelaw.com.


Jon Pfeiffer is an experienced entertainment and copyright trial attorney practicing in Santa Monica. Jon is also an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California where he teaches Media Law. The class covers First Amendment issues as well as copyright, defamation and privacy.

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