The Streisand Effect

Today I learnt the meaning of this phrase.

In 2003, as part of a project to highlight the effect of corrosion on the coastline, a well known photographer put out an aerial photo of Barbara Streisand’s Malibu beach home in a website. It was one of 12,000 other pictures on the web page. When it was initially put up, only a handful of people viewed the the picture. Apparently only 4 did. Barbara Streisand then went to court to seek the removal of the photo and claimed $50m in damages. Her case failed.

But her bringing the case generated publicity. When people found out about her attempt to take down the picture, they became curious and all went in to see what the picture and the fuss was all about. In the end, as a result of the publicity, a few hundred thousand people went onto the site to view the photo.

So the phrase was coined in 2005 to refer to the unintended publicity which can be generated by an original intention to either suppress, hide or censor information.

So I guess the lesson here is to know when to not push the button to shut down or censor information. Sometimes it is best to let sleeping dogs lie.