A Venice, California jewelry store has sold the surveillance tape central to the felony theft case against troubled actress Lindsay Lohan to a company that licensed it to a popular entertainment news show, which could complicate the case, local news outlets reported on Saturday.
Entertainment Tonight, a daily tabloid-style television show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world, will air the footage Monday, RadarOnline reported.
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Wait a minute, though. If you have a private business that uses video surveillance of customers, you can sell video surveillance of a customer without their consent? What if there’s no sign on your door warning customers that they will be videotaped? I don’t know what the situation was in this case. I’m just asking a general question. You may not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in public spaces, nor in a store, but does that mean that they can sell film of you without your consent? I have no idea what the privacy tort would be – appropriation of likeness? – but something doesn’t seem right about this.
And that’s apart from the issue of the criminal matter, of course.
Update: I’ve been told that selling video taken in this type of situation is generally legal, proving, once again, that just because something doesn’t seem right to me, it doesn’t make it illegal.