Invasion of the Sight to Privacy
(4) The law recognizes each person's right to live his or her life without being subjected to unwarranted and undesired publicity. A violation of this right constitutes the tort of invasion of the right to privacy. Examples of this tort include reading someone else's mail, wiretapping, and such. Publication to a third person is necessary. In contrast to defamation, the fact does not have to be untrue. Therefore, truth is not a defense to a charge of invasion of privacy. If the fact is public information, there is no claim to privacy. However, the fact that was once public (e.g., the commission of a crime) may become private after the passage of time.
(5) Placing someone in a «false light» constitutes an invasion of privacy. For example, sending an objectionable telegram to a third party and signing another's name would place a purported sender in a false light in the eyes of the receiver. Falsely attributing beliefs or acts to another can also form a basis of a lawsuit.
Public Figures as Plaintiffs
(6) In New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, the U.S. Supreme Court held that public officials cannot recover for defamation unless they can prove that the defendant acted with «actual malice». Actual malice means that the defendant made
Vocabulary.
tort - правонарушение
defamation of character - клевета, очернение репутации
valuable - ценный
asset - имущество, достояние
therefore - следовательно
protect - защищать
false - ложный, недостоверный
statement - утверждение
require - требовать(ся)
plaintiff - истец
defame - порочить, клеветать
defamation - диффамация, клевета
defamatory - позорящий, клеветнический, порочащий
prove - доказывать
defendant - ответчик, обвиняемый
intentionally - умышленно, преднамеренно
accidentally - случайно, непредумышленно
publish - здесь: обнародовать, довести до сведения
appearance - появление
oral - устный
slander - клевета письменная
slanderer - клеветник
libel - клевета устная
hold* - признавать, решать
broadcast - вещать
consider - считать, рассматривать
permanency - постоянство, непреходящая ценность
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media - масс-медиа, средства массовой информации
opinion - мнение
actionable - обладающий исковой силой, дающий право на иск
actionability - исковая сила
lawyer - юрист
lousy - разг.: гнусный
since - поскольку
define - определять, давать определение
defense - защита
charge (of) - обвинение (в)
invasion - вторжение
right to privacy - право на тайну
recognise - признавать
subject to - подвергать
unwarranted - необоснованный, неуполномоченный
undesired - нежелаемый, нежелательный
publicity - гласность, широкая известность
violation - нарушение
constitute - составлять, представлять собой
wiretapping - подслушивание телефонных разговоров
publication - предание гласности
commission - совершение
crime - преступление
passage - течение (времени)
objectionable - неприятный, нежелательный, вызывающий возражения
signing - подписание
purport - претендовать, подразумевать
sender - отправитель
receiver - получатель
attribute - приписывать
lawsuit - иск, судебное дело/процесс
public figure - общественный
plaintiff - истец
public official - государственное должностное лицо
recover - получать возмещение по суду
malice - злой умысел
malicious - умышленный, злонамеренный
reckless disregard - безответственное пренебрежение
falsity - ложность, недостоверность, ложь
requirement - требование
extend - распростаняться (на)
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personality - личность, лицо
public figure - общественный деятель
celebrity - знаменитость
Ex. Answer the following questions.
1. How can a person's reputation be protected?
2. If a plaintiff sues somebody for defamation of character, what must he prove?
3. What does "publication of an untrue statement" mean in this case?
4. What is the name for and oral defamatory statement?
5. What does libel mean?
6. What examples of invasion of the right to privacy are given in the taxt?
7. Why is the truth not a defense to a charge of invasion of privacy?
8. In what case can public officials recover for defamation?
Text 5:
United States Legal System
In the United States legal system there are fundamentally three sources of law, the Constitution, legislation, and the courts. The US Constitution defines the basic powers of the three branches of government, and establishes the rights and responsibilities of the people. The legislature (the US Congress or state legislature) enacts laws by the representatives of the people. The courts provide legal rulings that define and interpret the law, and court cases provide important "precedent" for later cases. This is the basis of the common law system that had its origin in the British legal system.
Nearly 50 years ago the most important legal issue in American education was the question of integrated schools. The landmark Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court case determined that a "separate but equal" system of US education violated the equal protection clause of the US Constitution. For many years after the decision in Brown, the states struggled with the question of integration, how to break down the barriers to equal education for all races. A controversial method was forced "bussing" of students, and for many years this was the most divisive issue in US education. Many of these issues have been resolved, although the school systems in many urban with minority populations still suffer from neglect and lack of adequate support. In the 1990's there has been increasing dissatisfaction with a public school system that is often viewed as big, inefficient, bureaucratic, and unresponsive the needs of the students.
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In the US Education system today there are two important issues relating to educational reform, and both of them have unresolved legal questions. Both issues have arisen as a result of parents and neighborhood schools seeking to have a greater control over the education of their children. The first issue is that of "vouchers", a system whereby a family is given a credit of a certain amount of money to apply to the education of their child. This credit can be used in a private or parochial (religious) school, or any other qualified institution. This is designed to give parents a greater freedom of choice, but it was challenged on the ground that it violates the US Constitution. The First Amendment provides that the government "shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" and this brief clause formed the basis of the separation of church and state in America for more than two hundred years.
Many people oppose the voucher system, including the teachers unions, who claim that it will drain limited resources away from public schools. And many feel that the voucher is merely a way to cover up state support for religious education. They argued that the voucher system violated the US Constitution. But in November 1998, the US Supreme Court refused to hear the case challenging the Wisconsin voucher law. The Wisconsin courts had found the law to be valid. The practical effect of this case was to allow other states to adopt similar laws, and the trend can be expected to continue. Other states are now likely to follow the Wisconsin model, but it is entirely up to the state legislature to approve a system of vouchers.
The second major issue in US educational reform today is the charter school system. These are public schools, but they are "chartered" under special contracts designed to give the local school, and the parents, a much greater degree of freedom in choosing the curriculum and teachers. There are more than 30 states in the US today with charter school laws, and each one is different. The strongest charter school laws give the greatest autonomy and
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permit the greatest flexibility in the type of organization that can sponsor a charter school. In some states even "for profit" corporations can run a charter school. In many states charter schools are exempted from most state educational laws, including the requirement to hire union teachers. Needless to say, the teacher's unions have often opposed charter schools.
It is interesting to note that both the voucher system and the charter school movement are working primarily to assist low-income students. As a practical matter in the US, this means minority students. The Wisconsin voucher program limits assistance to families with incomes no more than 175% of the "poverty" line. This means that the wealthier families (more than half of the public school population) are not eligible. Both the voucher system and the charter school system have had some degree of success because low-income parents want the best possible education for their children. And this may not always be found in the traditional system of large public schools. There seems to be an increasing trend towards charter schools in America, and each state has a different approach towards the level of autonomy provided.
Vocabulary
legal - юридический;
issue - вопрос;
to face - сталкиваться;
source - источник;
legislation - законодательство;
court - суд;
to define - определять, давать определение;
branch - ветвь;
to establish - устанавливать;
responsibility - обязанность;
legislature - законодательная власть;
to enact - принимать (закон);
to provide - обеспечивать, предоставлять;
ruling - управление;
to interpret - толковать;
case - случай, дело;
basis - основа;
common - общий, общепринятый;
origin - происхождение;
integrated - объединенный, совместный;
landmark - поворотный пункт, веза;
vs. = versus - против;
board - совет;
supreme - верховынй;
to determine - определять;
separate - раздельный;
equal - равный;
to violate - нарушать;
protection - защита;
clause - статья, пункт;
to struggle - бороться;
to break down - разрушить;
controversial - противоречивый;
to force - застявлять, принуждать;
divisive - разделяющий (людей);
to resolve - решать;
urban - городской;
to suffer (from) - страдать (от);
neglect - пренебрежение;
lack (of) - отсутствие, нехватка;
support - поддержка;
to increase - увеличивать;
to view - рассматривать;
inefficient - неэффективный;
responsive - ответный (о взгляде и.д.);
to relate (to) - относиться (к);
to seek - искать;
whereby - при помощи, посредством; как, чем;
certain - некий, определенный;
amount - сумма, количество;
to apply - применять, использовать;
parochial - приходской;
institution - учреждение;
designed - здесь: предназначенный;
to challenge - здесь: оспаривать;
amendment - поправка;
to provide - обеспечивать, предоставлять;
to respect - уважать;
brief - краткий, сжатый;
to oppose - противостоять;
to claim - утверждать;
to drain - истощать (средства);
public school - государственная школа;
way - способ;
merely - просто;
to cover up - спрятать, прикрыть;
to argue - оспаривать;
to refuse - отказываться;
valid - действительный, имеющий силу;
to allow - позволять, разрешать;
to adopt - принимать (закон);
similar - подобный, схожий;
trend - тенденция;
entirely - полностью, целиком;
charter - устав; привилегия; даровать (хартию, грамоту..);
to permit - позволять, разрешать;
flexibility - гибкость;
to sponsor - спонсировать, финансировать;
for-profit - коммерческий;
to exempt (from) - освобождать (от);
requirement - требование;
to hire - принимать на работу;
movement - движение;
low-income - низкий доход;
matter - вопрос;
to limit - ограничивать;
wealthy - состоятельный;
eligible - подходящий; желательный;
degree - степень;
approach - подход;
towards - к, по отношению к;
access (to) - доступ (к);
to rank - распределять, классифицировать.
Ex. Answer the following questions.
1. What are the sources of law in the U.S. legal system?
2. What are the functions of each of them?
3. What was the most important legal issue in American education 50 years ago?
4. What is the attitude of public toward the public school system in 1990-s?
5. What does the "voucher program" mean"? Give its historic background.
6. Do all people in America support this system?
7. What is the second major issue in U.S. educational reform?
8. What does a charter school mean?
9. Why do the teacher's unions oppose charter schools?
10. Who are supported by the voucher system and the charter school movement
Text 6:
THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING.
As more and more cameras are connected to the net, the web is growing eyes.
But is everyone ready for a close-up?
Webcams have been around for a few yeas now, transmitting round the-clock images of famous buildings, the surf conditions up and down the Pacific coastline, heavy traffic, street scenes and fish tanks. Since the first one went live sometime in the early '90s, Webcams have been proliferating steadily - though no one knows for sure how many are out there. An Internet search for the phrase "live Webcam" showed 9,28 Web pages. But there were many links to personal Webcam page where people are connecting cameras to the Internet and, privacy be damned, letting the world watch.
And the world is tuning in. Observers of the Webcam phenomenon say it's the logical next step for a society hooked on reality based television shows like "Cops" and MTV's popular "Real World" series. People are already turning cameras on themselves the Internet allows them to effectively broadcast those images, cheaply and continuously. Why watch other people's lives when other people could be watching yours?
Unfortunately, as entertainment, watching someone's life is even more boring than it sounds. Webcams tend to catch people in their most routine moments: sitting at a desk in front of their computer, staring at their monitors or typing. And yet, for a growing number of the voyeuristically inclined, these cyber transmissions have a strange appeal. Brian Cury, who runs a large Web-based directory of Webcam sites atwww.earthcam.com, says, "You develop a relationship with that person and you start to care about them."
There is, for example, the Webcam Dave Williams set up for his daughter, Danielle. The Williamses' Web site featured a window where you could watch a live snapshot of the baby that was updated once an hour, throughout the day and night, by a small $ 150 video-camera hanging above her crib. At the time Williams thought it would be a neat way for friends and family to watch Dani as she grew up. Then the fan e-mail started coming. From strangers in France. And Japan. And from a class of second grade somewhere in a small town .
Most of these people simply stumbled on the site in the course of regular Web surfing. Traffic to the DaniCam site grew from a few hits a month to 1,000 a day. At first Dave and his wife, Sheryl, were amused by the attention. The true horror of what they had done didn't hit them until they saw "The Truman Show," the 1998 movie in which a man unknowingly lives his life in front of cameras and a worldwide audience of prime-time viewers. "We're sitting there watching the movie and Sheryl turns to me and says, 'You're disconnecting the Dani Cam'." That night, the DaniCam went dark "To this day," says Williams, "people send e-mail saying, 'We miss Dani'."
Those Dani-addicts could migrate to the Marrero family camera, which is Webcasting images of Samantha, 2 y.o., and her brothel Matthew, who's a year old, live from their shared bedroom in Newark, N.J. or to Web Dorm.com, where you can watch real-life college students eat, sleep and study in their natural habitat 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Ryan Scott, a senior at Southen Methodist University, has kept his Webcam going for two years and uses it to socialize with friends and family, and meet new people. Cody Ward, a 20-year-old at the University of Florida, starting Web-camming a year ago out of curiosity but says he forgets the camera's even there anymore. "It's whatever. It's on."
Nobody knows this strange new world better than the female star of the Webcam that started it all in 1996 - the JenniCam at www.jennicam.org (be careful; porn lives right next door at www.jenny cam.org). Jennifer Ringley, now 23, is still there, living her life. The site started as a project for a computer class that Bingley took as a junior in college. She had seen a Webcam called The Amazing Fish Cam (pointed at an aquarium in the offices of Netscape, the browser-software company) and thought to herself, "Why not?" Three years later, the site gets 4.5 million hits a day and costs upwards of $15,000 a month to maintain. To help the financials break even, she charges $15 a year for a "subscription.
There probably won't be too many more such Jennis in our lifetime. But Webcams are sure to be a feature of tomorrow's technology landscape. People are increasingly discovering practical uses for them, such as monitoring a beach house during winter months or peeking in on kids through Webcammed day-care centers. In the future Webcams might allow you to check out the scene inside a nightclub before you stand in line, or help you get out of traffic using highway Webcams that can beam gridlock conditions to your moving car. These sorts of applications may well prove indispensable - and, in the process, make Webcam-addicts of us all.
By Jennifer Tanaka
Vocabulary:
watch - наблюдать, следить
connect - (под)соединять
webcam - видеокамера, подсоединенная к Интернету
transmit - передавать
round-the-clock - разг. круглосуточный
surf - плавание на волнах
coastline - побережье
heavy traffic - напряженное движение на дорогах
tank - резервуар, бак; бассейн, пруд
in the early ’90 - в начале ‘90-х
proliferate - распространяться, численно возрастать
steadily - упорно, постоянно
search - поиск
tune in - настраиваться на
observer - наблюдатель
hooked on - разг.: помешанный на
broadcast - вещать, передавать (по радио, ТВ)
continuously - беспрерывно
entertainment - развлечение
boring - скучно, утомительно
sound - звучать
tend - иметь тенденцию
catch*- заставать
routine - повседневный
stare - уставиться
inclined - склонный
appeal - здесь: влечение, привлекательность
run* - вести
set up* - установить
feature - амер.: показывать (на экране)
snapshot - снимок, кадр
update - обновлять
througout the day and night - круглые сутки
hang* - висеть
crib - колыбель
neat - аккуратный; ловкий
grow* up - расти
stranger - незнакомец
fun - забавный
stumble - наыкаться
traffic - движение
amuse - забавлять, развлекать
horror - ужас
unknowingly - не зная
miss - скучать
addict (to) - пристраститься; предаваться
migrate - перейти
shared bedroom - спальная на двоих
habitat - жилище
senior - студент 4-го (последнего) курса
socialize - общаться
curiosity - любопытство
female - женщина
junior - третьекурсник
amazing - удивительный, поразительный
point at - указывать на
upward - вверх
maintain - поддерживать
charge - взимать плату
subscription - подписка
increasingly - все в большей степени
discover - обнаруживать
peek in - заглядывать
day-care center
check out - проверять
stand* in line - стоять в очередь
beam - высвечивать
gridlock - (ТВ)сетка экрана
application - заявление
indispensable - неотъемлемый
Comprehension Check.
Answer the following questions.
1. What is done with a help of Webcams?
2. Why do people turn cameras on themselves?
3. What did the Williamses’ Web site feature?
4. Was it alwaya a fun?
5. Will Webcams be widely used in future?
Topics to Discuss.
1. Using Webcams by ordinary people (take examples from the text).
2. Positive and negative sides of using Webcams.
Text 7:
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