Up, Periscope: Mobile Streaming Video Technologies, Privacy in Public, and the Right to Record

Abstract

Mobile streaming video technologies (MSVTs) such as Meerkat and Periscope, which allow users an easily accessible way to stream live video to followers, have the potential to reshape the way people think about any right to privacy they may have in public places, as well as the rights of people to record video in public places. Using legal research methodology, this article examines the privacy law implications of MSVTs, finding that the intrusion upon seclusion tort is unequipped to provide remedies for potential privacy harms and that the First Amendment likely protects live streaming activities of users.

Keywords: Privacy, live streaming, mobile streaming video technology, social media, right to record, First Amendment, Meerkat, Periscope, privacy in public, obscurity