“Private and Domestic”: The Intersection of Privacy & Copyright Law

Facilitator: Vanessa Blackwood

While the Copyright Act generally establishes property rights in original works, it also provides a very limited privacy right. People who “for private and domestic purposes” commission a photograph or a film, like wedding photos or family portraits, have the right to control how the resulting work is exhibited or distributed, even where the copyright is owned by someone else. But does this privacy right go far enough? How should the interests of, for example, a child subject of a copyright work like a photograph or a film be accommodated, especially when they are now an adult and want to exercise their agency over that work?

Vanessa Blackwood is a Policy Adviser in the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. She has a Masters in human rights law focusing on censorship and hate speech. She lives in Wellington and spends her life on the internet.

Collaborative notes (Google Doc)