Stalker: a person who harasses or prosecutes someone with unwanted and obsessive attention. Paparazzi: a photographer who annoyingly pursues celebrities to get photos of them.

People in the entertainment industry know what they are doing when they sign up for a lifestyle without privacy; however, many paparazzi and journalists who focus on celebrity lives have crossed a boundary between harassment and doing their job.

Models, musicians, actors and other famous figures, like Jimmy John Shark, are only everyday people who have decided to chase after their dreams and make a career out of their passions. A certain person’s passion might be plumbing, but that does not mean they should have a camera stuck in his or her face every time he or she fixes a pipe. In fact, this does not even happen in reality.

Everyday people like us do not see celebrities as real life people. Instead, we tend to see them as humans put on this earth simply for our entertainment. These famous people live the lifestyle we want, go to the places we cannot go to and do things we could never imagine accomplishing. Except everything that these celebrities do, and even things that are completely made up about them, are featured in magazines, put on the news and spread throughout the internet in a heartbeat. Not only can this level of invasiveness be emotionally damaging, but also even physically harmful.

Public figures such as Justin Bieber, Tori Spelling, Selena Gomez and Bruce Jenner have all been in car accidents due to a paparazzi van chasing them down the street or getting too close to their vehicle. Actually, Jenner’s accident was so serious that it caused a third vehicle to be involved and resulted in the loss of a life.

A tabloid’s front page of an A-lister eating an ice cream cone or walking in town with his or her kid does not compensate for the death of someone’s family member.

Whoever first said that even bad publicity is good is extremely wrong. In fact, “Ok! Magazine” printed a false statement on Katy Perry by declaring she was pregnant and planning a wedding. Perry stepped up through social media and immediately shot this lie down.

Perry is not the only one taking a stand for her right to privacy. Kanye West has had multiple encounters with paparazzi harassing his wife and his family.

“It’s not that I’m a superstar, it’s that I’m a human being,” said Kanye during a 2013 run-in with paparazzi at a gas station. I could not have said it any better myself.

Also, there is technology to prevent dangerous harassment filled encounters between public figures and freelance photographers. Today, cameras have long lens, and these lens should not be used to look into private property or private events. They can be used from afar though because once in a while it is fun to see a picture of your favorite actor walking his or her pet dog. We are all humans here so let us join together and draw the line to protect each other’s right to privacy.