There is a natural fear that specific legislation designed to protect privacy would muzzle legitimate press inquiries. At the same time, it is widely acknowledged (except by most editors and journalists) that a great deal of media intrusion is simply an abuse of press freedom, with the sole aim of boosting circulation by feeding public prurience.
法国有一个隐私法明确定义了隐私的范围和该法适用的条件。相反，在英国，“隐私权”的定义是交由法官判断的。有人担心用于保护隐私的明确立法会箝制合法的新闻调查，这是很自然的。同时，人们普遍认为(除大多数编辑和新闻记者外)，大量的新闻窥探就是对新闻自由的滥用，其唯一目的是通过满足公众的欲望来提高发行量。