Abstract
Celebrities' increasingly offensive use of the courts to prevent the spread of scandalous images can become limiting to media freedoms and freedom of speech. In Europe, national and international courts have ruled in favour of privacy, however have failed to prevent the dissemination of controversial materials through the Internet. In the United States, the approach is different: there, the law is traditionally oriented towards the protection of free speech. This article argues that any kind of preventive control of privacy through expensive litigation can weaken the watchdog function of public opinion and interfere with the neutrality of the Internet.