Steven Tyler's Privacy From Photographers Bill Close To Becoming Law In Hawaii

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SB465, or Hawaii’s Steven Tyler Act, took a big step toward becoming a law this week when it was approved by the state Senate Judiciary Committee to be voted on by the full legislature. If passed, the bill would allow celebrities to sue photographers who take and publish photographs of them in places where a reasonable person would expect privacy such as inside their residences.

To help support the bill, both Steven Tyler and Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood offered testimony this week, telling the decision-makers it’s one thing to go out in public and have your picture taken, but it’s quite another to be on property you’ve purchased spending time with your own family and get photographed by professionals with high-powered lenses from hundreds of yards away.

Here’s a portion of Tyler’s actual quote, courtesy of E! Online…

"First and foremost I'd like to say, being a personality, no matter where we go, we get shot. It's part of the deal-io, and it's OK…But when I'm in my own home and I'm taking a shower or changing clothes or eating or spending Christmas with my children, and I see paparazzi a mile away, shooting at me with lenses this long, and then seeing that very picture in People magazine, you know, it hurts.”

Critics of the measure have long questioned SB456’s vagueness. What a reasonable person would find to be an invasion of privacy isn’t exactly a specific outline of where photographers can and cannot shoot, but for the people incessantly getting hassled, it would represent some measure of forward progress since all reasonable people would agree bedrooms, showers and beneath Christmas trees were off limits.

We’ll keep you updated on the bill’s progress.

Mack Rawden
Editor In Chief

Mack Rawden is the Editor-In-Chief of CinemaBlend. He first started working at the publication as a writer back in 2007 and has held various jobs at the site in the time since including Managing Editor, Pop Culture Editor and Staff Writer. He now splits his time between working on CinemaBlend’s user experience, helping to plan the site’s editorial direction and writing passionate articles about niche entertainment topics he’s into. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English (go Hoosiers!) and has been interviewed and quoted in a variety of publications including Digiday. Enthusiastic about Clue, case-of-the-week mysteries, a great wrestling promo and cookies at Disney World. Less enthusiastic about the pricing structure of cable, loud noises and Tuesdays.