It ’s rough-cut good sense : If you make a large peck over something , it ’s going to attract attention . And if you ’re an internationalcelebrity — like , say , Barbra Streisand — you’re going to draw evenmoreattention .
Hence , the Streisand Effect , which , according toThe Economist , happens when “ sweat to suppress a juicy piece of online information can backfire and end up making things worse for the would - be censor . ” ( See also : The Beyoncé Super Bowl Fiasco . )
In 2003 , Streisand action lensman Kenneth Adelman for disseminate airy pictures of her mansion in Malibu . But Adelman was no paparazzo — heoperatedthe California Coastal Records Project , a imagination provide more than 12,000 pic of the California glide for scientists and research worker to habituate to study coastal erosion . At the time Streisand sued Adelman for $ 50 million , the picture in question had been download a whopping amount of six times — twice by Streisand ’s lawyer [ PDF ] . Nonetheless , her lawsuit say that the photos explicitly read people how to reach access to her private abidance .
Of course , news mercantile establishment around the Earth account on Streisand ’s indignation , and before long , the photograph on Adelman ’s internet site hadreceivedwell over a million view . The photo was also picked up by the Associated Press and was reprint infinite prison term .
As if single - handedly causing the exact thing she did n’t need to happen was n’t bad enough , Streisand also lost the lawsuit ; the judgeordered herto cover the $ 155,567.04 Adelman had incurred in legal fee .
As for the phrasal idiom itself , that wascoined byMike Masnick of the websiteTechDirtin a 2005 post : “ How long is it get to take before lawyer take in that the simple act of essay to muffle something they do n’t like online is likely to make it so that something that most people would never , ever see … is now seen by many more masses ? allow ’s call it the Streisand Effect . ”
In a2008 interviewwith NPR , Masnick divulge he believe it “ really sort of changed thanks to the Internet , ” and noted : “ People feel that their rights are being taken away when someone ’s trying to , say , bully someone into suppressing information that they suppose should be out there . ”
A version of this chronicle run in 2015 ; it has been update for 2023 .
