A free forum sponsored by the Southern Illinois Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, The College of Mass Communications and Media Arts, and the SIU School of Law on Wednesday, April 4th, at 7:30pm in Room 102 of the SIU Law School.

Did you do something stupid after you signed the release? Are you embarrassed now that the film has debuted in 800 theaters across the country, and your buddies and sorority sweethearts won’t come near you? Do you have any recourse?

On Wednesday, April 4th at 7:30pm in Room 102 of the SIU Law School, you can find out. The Southern Illinois Chapter of the ACLU, joined by the College of Mass Communications and Media Arts and the Law School, will present a forum titled “Stupidity, Privacy, and the First Amendment: What Every Frat Boy Needs to Know after Borat.� Discussing issues arising from the film’s presentation of real individuals in unflattering lights will be Professors William Freivogel and Laura Hlavach of the College of Mass Communications and Media Arts, Professor Mark Schultz of the Law School and Mr. Jak Tichenor of WSIU-TV. Among questions to be considered are: do our stupidities become fair game if we commit them in a public setting? Do the releases we sign give iron-clad protection to filmmakers, or do we retain any privacy rights? If we sue for damage to our reputation, do we have a chance of success? What First Amendment or other legal protections do filmmakers have in holding us up to ridicule?

A Pew Research Center poll reported in USA Today found that 51% of 18-24 year olds believe that becoming famous is an important goal, second only to becoming rich. Both reality TV and social networking websites increasingly encourage people to display themselves publicly, a setting that makes miscues of the sort that Borat reveled in exposing increasingly likely. Panelists will focus on a suit brought against the producers of Borat, but this suit is only one of several that have arisen in the era of “reality TV� involving the relation among privacy, consent, and media freedoms. A New Jersey court has accepted a class action suit brought by a group of patients filmed in an emergency room for a production by New York Times Television called “Trauma: Like in the ER.� The suit claims that the filmed patients did not understand the nature of the film and were in no condition to understand the releases they signed. What are their rights in these circumstances?

Panelists will outline the legal framework for such suits and the defenses available to filmmakers. After their presentation, questions from the audience will be invited.