프라이버시의 침해 - 우리나라와 미국 판례를 중심으로

In America, recognition of the right of privacy has come a new area of tort law, discriminating the legal theory of defamation and the tort action for invasion of privacy is a comparatively recent development. At present, invasion of privacy consists of four distinct wrongs in America. The four separate categories of invasion of privacy are:1. intrusion upon plaintiff's privacy or private affairs 2. public disclosure of private facts 3. appropriation of person’s name or likeness 4. false light in the public eye Other forms (or variation on these forms) may develop in the future;these categories are not limitation. And there may be overlap between these forms in a particular case. The protection of the right of privacy must conflict the freedom of expression that the mass media have. It is a key point that how much privacy is protected is compatible with the public right to know. This paper analyzes Korea and America courts` decisions on the invasion of privacy. In this article, the forms, requirements, exemption of illegality and so on in the invasion of privacy have been researched in depth. The legitimate public interests as privileges discriminates between the public figures and the private figures. The public figures should be so allowed to public access widely for their private matters that the protection of privacy has been properly restricted. Meanwhile the private figures are protected strictly from mass media even if related with the legitimate public interests. In addiction there are privileges to consent of the plaintiff and report on government proceedings, such as court case, legislative hearings, etc.