'Breach of confidence is based upon the principle that a person who has obtained information in confidence should not take unfair advantage of it' (p.381 McNae's)
Information is not generally confidential but information already in the public domain cannot always be published with impunity
Until 2000, English law recognised no right to privacy
Three areas of concern:
§ State secrets
o Official Secrets Act
o Details of military or intelligence operations
§ Commercial secrets
o Common Law Confidentiality
o People have the right to keep secrets as long as it is not against the public interest
o If somebody who is not allowed passes on secrets – a doctor or a lawyer for example –he/she commits ‘breach of confidentiality’ = crime
o A journalist might get caught between commercial secrets and the urge to reveal and report them – third party breach = crime
§ Might just have to accept the fact that you cannot report – legal duty to respect the confidence
§ Privacy
o ‘Privacy’ law
o Human Rights Act, section 8
‘A person is in breach of confidence if they pass on information that:
- Has 'the necessary quality of confidence'
AND
- Was provided in ‘circumstances imposing an obligation’
AND
- There was no permission to pass on the information
AND
- Detriment is likely to be caused to the person who gave in the information’
http://journalism.winchester.ac.uk/?page=229
If a journalist tries to publish confidential information, and the person who has passed on this information finds out that the information is to be disclosed before it has been published– he/she may be able to get a temporary injunction which will prohibit the publication of that material.
Further reading on Confidentiality:
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