The Right to Tell One’s Own Story? Balancing Privacy and Expression Claims

Abstract

This article addresses recent developments in the courts’ approach to the difficult balance between privacy claims and expression claims under Articles 8 and 10 European Convention of Human Rights. It argues that, despite clear guidance from the House of Lords, the lower courts have adopted a methodology that does not promote a fair and effective balancing of the rights. It argues further that the personal interest of an individual in communicating their own story has not been consistently recognised and incorporated into the balancing process. As personal speech claims are based on the same values of informational autonomy and self-development as privacy claims, this results in a conceptual as well as a practical imbalance.