Should Racy Pictures of Rihanna be on Display

Photos of Pop Star are Released by Unknown Source May Invade Privacy

May 25, 2009

In between projects and wanting to get beyond the negative images related to her attack, questions now center on Rhianna's right to privacy and the public's right to know

In another interesting twist in the coverage of pop star Rhianna, some of her more private parts have been showing up in racy photos on various internet websites.

There is no mention of these photos on her official Def Jam website, but according to published reports on the online web magazine TMZ, her record label did release a statement asking those websites with revealing photos to cease and desist as they were"unauthorized photos purported to be...Rihanna, demands that the photos be removed from the site as the photos are a clear violation of the artist's rights," the TMZ article read.

Interestingly enough the letter does not confirm nor deny the identity of the woman in the photo's but the fact that there is not an outright denial has led to the belief that it is highly likely that at least some of the photos are authentic.

Privacy Issues are Important Here

In this case an area of state and federal privacy law may come into to play here, because the protection and preservation of the privacy rights of individuals is increasingly important. As public and private organizations increasingly collect and regulate vast amounts of personal information for a various purposes it becomes all the more important for privacy laws to enforce limits on what types of information can be collected and how the information can be used.

Privacy laws can be generally classified into both general and specific laws, the general have an overall bearing on the personal information of individuals and affect the policies that govern different areas of information. The more specific include the following categories:

The unauthorized photo's of Rihanna may fall under three of the above categories, online, communication, and privacy in one's home.

However, unlike a Facebook page for example, where the user agrees to certain conditions and knows in advance that the general public will be able to access their private information, here Rihanna has given no such consent. In fact, just the opposite has occurred, private information (in this case photos) have been taken with her knoweldge but ditributed to the public without both her knowledge and consent.

Questions About the Origin of Photos Abound

The authenticity is only one aspect of the controversy related to these photos, the other is where they came from. If they are Rihanna, speculation abounds as to whether they came from the pop star herself or came from someone close to her. The obvious choice is Chris Brown, her on again off again love interest.

Seven shots currently causing trouble in Rihanna's world, are due to their explicit nature. In some of the photos she is in front of the camera, in another her real name, "Robyn" is written on a mirror, which could be an obvious reference to the singer.

As for Chris Brown, his camp has released a statement to Essence.com some of which appears in a May 8th, 2009 article by Cori Murray on the website. The statement explains that the accusations involving Brown being the source of these photos are, "both false and defamatory, Chris has not released or leaked any photos of Rihanna or anyone else for that matter," the Essence.com article read.

Brown is reported to be upset over the leak of these graphic images including one showing him sitting on a bed with a pair of pink pants on his head, especially after the previous leak of a graphic image showing the battered face of Rihanna.

Rihanna May Have Found a New Man

Despite reports that Rihanna maybe dating Canadian Hip-Hop artist Aubrey "Drake" Graham, he denied that there was any romance between the two.

On New York Cities Hot 97 radio station Graham said the two were just friends, even though the two were seen stealing kisses by reporters from The New York Post at Lucky Strike Lanes and Lounge, staying by each other side all night before leaving together.

The speculation that appeared in The New York Post's celebrity gossip column Page Six is that perhaps these photos have been released out of spite, and Rihanna is moving on.

The copyright of the article Should Racy Pictures of Rihanna be on Display in Current Pop Music is owned by Paul Hamilton. Permission to republish Should Racy Pictures of Rihanna be on Display in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.