BBC News, Los Angeles
The Los Angeles paparazzi are as much as part of Hollywood life as the studios, celebrities and publicists.
Snapping stars is big business for the legions of photographers who stake out the clubs, restaurants and shopping malls of Beverly Hills.
But all that could change if new laws are brought in to curb the activities of the paparazzi.
In recent months there have been some ugly incidents in which photographers are widely believed to have overstepped the mark.
The day Britney Spears was taken from her home on a stretcher and ferried to a local hospital, scores of tabloid photographers swarmed around her ambulance.
Flagrant flouting
A police helicopter and a dozen officers on motorbikes were drafted in to escort the singer, at a reported cost to the local authority of $25,000 (£13,000).
"We can't afford to drain that type of resource from the police department," says Dennis Zine, a member of the Los Angeles City Council.
 Photographer Nick Stern thinks new laws would curb press freedom |
"We need to come up with something to control the situation. Normally somebody is in an ambulance and it gets to the hospital without any kind of impediment.
"In this particular case it was impeded because of the paparazzi."
Tabloid photographers have also developed a reputation for flagrantly flouting traffic laws. Many will think nothing of rushing into a busy street with a camera at the ready if it means they can get a shot of a celebrity in their car.
"Everyone thinks they're going to get the photograph of the century," says Mr Zine.
"It becomes a mob mentality. It's like a pack of wolves, a swarm of bees going after their prey. That's the issue that we really need to contend with and we need to come up with a solution."
Another widely-reported skirmish involving the paparazzi occurred when actor Matthew McConaughey went surfing in Malibu.
