Judge rules sex workers have right to privacy
Prostitute had been falsely accused online of practising unsafe sex and having HIV/AIDS
BEING a sex worker does not disqualify you from having a private life, a judge has said, as he granted an injunction to an escort who has been harassed online. The woman, known as GYH, has been caused considerable distress by online publications about her sex life, physical and mental health, the High Court heard.
These include allegations that she has HIV/AIDS, which she says are untrue. GYH brought proceedings in London against “persons unknown” as, despite extensive efforts, it has proved impossible to trace any individual who has posted the material.
Mr Justice Warby said that an injunction was “amply justified” to restrain continued harassment of GYH and the misuse of private information about her. The fact that GYH had publicised that she was an escort providing sexual services was relevant, but did not disqualify her from the protection given to private life. She is an “active user of social media and maintains a Facebook profile, a Youtube Channel and a blog”, the court heard.
“The claimant’s role inevitably means that she is likely to have made public or placed beyond her control some information about her sexual life and, on the evidence, she plainly has done so. Someone who makes information about herself public may have no reasonable expectation of privacy in relation to that or similar information and hence no right to prevent others from disclosing it,” Mr Justice Warby said.
The judge added that if a sex worker practised unsafe sex and had contracted HIV/AIDS, yet continued to work, there would be a clear justification for warning those who might suffer the consequences. But GYH stated that she did not practise unsafe sex and was HIV negative – and there was “credible uncontradicted evidence” that the allegations were false, the judge said.
He added: “There is no public interest in the distribution of false information of this kind, nor is it reasonable to publish false allegations to this effect. On the contrary.”
The woman said the abuse began in Dec 2015 after she received a text message from someone claiming to be a student who wished to meet her socially but not pay for her services. When GYH declined, the conversation deteriorated into abuse. She also received anonymous phone calls with further abuse.
Posts on a series of websites made allegations that she had spread sexually transmitted diseases, was anorexic and mentally ill, the court heard.
They use both her work name and legal name and also include specific and identifiable information about her and pictures, which are “often altered in an offensive manner”.