04 – Legal security
In most countries, individuals have a legal right to privacy. As a filmmaker, you simultaneously have a right to freedom of expression. Balancing these two rights is at the heart of privacy law.
There are multiple ways in which you could be considered to be violating someone's privacy:
Filming someone without their permission can be a violation of their privacy, such as when you do so in a private home or when they are engaged in a private act. Your legal position — as a filmmaker — is that you are sharing the information because of its value to the public interest.
Privacy can extend to an individual’s personal data. Data protection law has been used to stop journalists from publishing what is deemed to be “personal data.”
Even if a person is aware they are being filmed, they can accuse you of violating their privacy if the information that you share about them is presented in a way that is untrue or misleading and inaccurately portrays their actions, beliefs, or values.
In the UK, The OfCom Broadcasting Code — published by the government's media regulator — states that any privacy infringement must be "warranted," such as being within the public interest. But even then, it is necessary to demonstrate that the value of the public interest "outweighs the right to privacy." The BBC shares a similar principle, stating in their Editorial Guidelines that "Any infringement of privacy in the gathering of material must be proportionate."
When an individual signs a release form, they are essentially waiving their right to claims of privacy, though as a filmmaker, you still have a responsibility to protect identifiable information that could put them at risk.