Perils of the Long Lens???

[Tom O]

I found this to be interesting.

LONDON - Two photo agencies have agreed to pay $113,000 to Hugh Grant, his ex-girlfriend Liz Hurley and her husband for taking photos of them while
they were vacationing in the Maldives.
Britain's High Court says The Big Pictures and Eliot Press Sarl agencies apologized Thursday for using a long lens to violate the trio's privacy while they were at an island resort in October. The pictures appeared in several newspapers.
Grant, Hurley and her husband, Arun Nayar, have released a statement saying it was "reprehensible" that photos were taken of Hurley's son playing naked on the beach.
The trio plan to donate the money to a cancer charity.

[basroil]

This sounds more like a simple violation of an expectation of privacy, sort of like taking photos of someone in a public dressing room. Some agencies really give photographers a bad name doing things like this, since there was no real news to go along with it. Now, if the kid was attacked by a shark and they wanted to run photos of the kid on the beach before the attack, that's fine.

[pagnamenta]

Not only is it a privacy issue but keep in mind it is far easier to sue a photographer/agency in London than it is in the U.S. This news doesn't surprise me at all.