Application of Libertarianism

Libertarians value freedom above everything else. They place a lot of importance on the freedom of the press and on free speech. They believe that there should be as few restrictions on free speech and the ability of journalists to express themselves as possible, and that any restrictions imposed by politicians amount to a violation of people's rights. They also believe that anybody should be allowed to set up or own a newspaper or website, and free to publish whatever they like, with some exceptions. They do not want there to be any laws protecting people's privacy.

In the United States, they support the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, which states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." The second part of this relates to our question. The Ipso rules do not exist in America. 

Libertarians agree with John Stuart Mill, a philosopher, who believed that the clash of opinions led to the truth. They also believe that publishing as many facts as possible - even confidential information - is good for society as it makes it more informed.

 There are exceptions: libertarians do agree with some restrictions on speech. They agree that speech that encourages people to commit a crime immediately, such as telling an angry group of people to attack a building, can be banned. They also oppose speech that encourages violence or killing people. Furthermore, they accept that you should not be able to state something false that damages somebody's reputation, which is called a libel. They also agree that you should not be able to lie to deceive others and commit fraud. 

But while libertarians are opposed to the Government preventing free speech, and believe that laws protecting privacy are wrong, that does not mean that they automatically believe that every story about every celebrity should always be published. They believe that there is a difference between being allowed to breach privacy and it being the ethically right thing to do. So while Libertarians would be against the Government trying to decide the answer to our question, and they are much more relaxed than other people when it comes to publishing private information that can cause reputational harm to people, they still need to work out for themselves what to do on a case by case basis. This is both a strength and a weakness of this approach.