ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with a tale of several scandals that resulted in very different legal responses. It discusses several further, related points about the law and scandal and considers through a comparative lens. The chapter describes the changing function of the law when it comes to protecting privacy in the online era and explains the question of whether court orders can still realistically keep ‘private facts’ secret in that era. It explores the broader impact of the law on public discourse in an era of ‘fake news’ and analyses the advent of a remedy specifically tailored to the crucial contemporary role the internet plays in ‘remembering’ scandals: the ‘right to be forgotten’. Even in the USA, however, there is one legal tool commonly used to try to suppress scandalous stories that can be squared with the First Amendment: the confidentiality agreement.
