As I remember it, once upon a time Robert mentioned being forbidden to take pictures in some parts of Seoul but it seems that this is becoming more a problem in other places as well. Is this security or a lack of freedom?
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That’s rather disturbing on many levels.
I find the encroaching loss of freedoms quite comforting.
Related news from BBC.
There has to be laws to balance the freedom to take pictures and the freedom to privacy. Otherwise upskirt pictures of school girls wouldn’t be prosecutable. Likewise for continual harrassment with paparazi or stalkers.
Landmarks free of people should be unquestionably fair game.
If you look at the journalists name, I feel that it was more a case of overzealous racial stereotyping. If he had been white, asian or black it probably wouldn’t have been such a problem.
The erosion of civil liberties in the UK continues to worry me. That cop, although the thin edge of the wedge, should be first against the wall, come the revolution.
The laws are pretty clear regarding photography, more than people think.
Taking pics in a public places in the US, say, is legal (sounds like this is the case in the UK as well), and barring publishing people in a “bad light” or otherwise misrepresenting them or libeling them, as long as you’re not on private or government property, you’re fine.
“Upskirt shots” like with weird props or under bathroom stalls or placed under a skirt — that doesn’t fall into any protection, and would likely be classified as sexual harrassment — the fact that your violated a woman’s private space or harrassed her with a camera is actually not that important. You’re sexually harassing her. No new laws need to be passed in that regard.
Indeed, likewise for paparazzi and stalkers. Refer to Gallela vs. Onassis for this one, in which Ron Gallela, a famous paparazzi photographer, stalked/photographed Jackie O, and the court placed a restraining order on him from approaching within 25 feet of her. He was coming too close to her, and really physically violating her right to privacy. Of course, she was often in public places, and he shot her anyway, from behind the prescribed distance, and it was not illegal for him to publish said pictures. But it would be illegal for him to stand on public property (say, a sidewalk) and use a 600mm lens to watch her in her living room — the courts later decided (I think in a different case) that this does not constitute a reasonable angle or point-of-view.
Using a 600mm lens on the sidewalk would be an invasion of privacy, whereas using a 50mm “normal” lens wouldn’t be.
Anyway, for the majority of situations, in which the place and circumstances of the photograph is pretty clear, so is the law.
Like taking pictures in a shopping mall or Emart– it’s private property and you can asked to stop taking photographs or even to leave. That’s their right, but they can’t touch your film or camera, nor can even a police officer. They CAN arrest you for trespassing if you don’t comply, however. So when they say stop taking pictures on private property — STOP.
And when there are funny exceptions or caveats, that’s when cases go the distance. But most people taking street shots of other people milling about on the street doing everyday things aren’t violating anyone’s right to privacy — in a public place, they have none, barring publishing pictures in a problematic way or using them for commercial purposes.
Anyway, you might want to refer to PhotoPermit.org, or the cheat sheet summary every photographer should have in her bag, “The Photographer’s Right.”
And on the Korean front, in my experience, these rights apply equally here — I’ve generally been left alone as a photographer by the police and authorities, and even in one instance when a cop got overzealous, I yelled that he didn’t have the right to prevent me from taking pictures, to which he replied I was interfering with his duties, to which I snapped back that I was standing where all the other onlookers were standing and was nowhere near him or his police cars, where they were roughly pushing and shoving several non-Korean woman into the backs of police cars. It was bordering on brutaility, and I was making a point of using my flash to show them they were being watched. He knew I was right, and he couldn’t touch me or my camera. He backed down, although he wasn’t happy about it. And I kept conspicuously flashing him and all his men until they got in the car and drove off.
Yet, the most sensitive places to photograph in Korea, I think, are actually around large buildings or stores where they place security guards. These buffoons come up to you and tell you to stop taking pictures (like on a public street), because they don’t want their corporation’s logo coming out in the picture. They’re underpaid, uneducated, borderline thugs, most of them, and they don’t know the law — or maybe they do, but completely ignore it.
A good example is when I was recording an interview in Myeongdong in front of what was most recently the Kosney store, and some stuffed-suit security dork came out and told me to stop filming. When I told him this was a public street, he told me that the area in front of that building was private property. So I asked him where the property ended, exactly, which he didn’t like. So he showed me, and we set up the tripod right on the edge. He then told me I couldn’t point the camera in the direction of the building, which is BS — let them sue me if they think their copyright or whatever is being violated, but on public property, I can point my camera in any direction I wanted. When I told him to buzz off, I simply said that I’d call the police and ask them who was right. He buzzed off.
But the corporate types will harass you to no end, even in violation of the law, since the law is just a suggestion in Korea. When I was (kind of brazenly) taking pictures in a big department store, I saw a scene I liked, but it included some makeup display. They are very concerned about corporate espionage. Anyway, some suit told me to stop taking pictures, which I did, put the camera on my shoulder, and proceeded to leave. According to American law (which is generally the same in Korea, although I wasn’t sure at the time), once you’re told to stop filming on private property, as long as you comply and stop, they can’t take your film or detain you. They’re private citizens, too — not cops. If you continue and ignore their request, you can be asked to leave, or they can remove you for trespassing. But your person and property are inviolate — even the police have to arrest you to detain you, and they can’t destroy your film (images) or keep it.
Anyway, I proceed to leave, but the manager wants to know why I’m shooting. I say I’m just a private citizen and I’m shooting for myself (which I was). He wasn’t satisfied and wanted to know “who I was.” I gave him my name and simply repeated that I’m shooting for ME, and that was that. I had stopped taking pictures. But by then, he had called in (or someone else had) 4 security guards and other suited manager-types were coming to see the action. He continued to ask “where are you from?” and “who are you shooting for” at which point, since I didn’t have a different answer besides the truth, I simply said, “I already told you, so I’m going to go now,” at which point the guards made a circle around me and were preventing me from leaving. That’s the point where I started getting hot, and a little scared, since I had stopped shooting, I had told him my name and why I was shooting (how am I going to actively show I’m NOT a hired hand of the competition?).
If they waterboarded me, perhaps I might be forced to sing a different tune, but barring that, I didn’t know what else to offer but the truth. Anyway, I clearly told him that no one here was a cop, they had no right to detain me, and that if they DID plan to arrest me, they had better call the police. I had complied with the order to stop filming, and they were now illegally detaining ME. They could eject me from the store, but that was kind of silly, since I was trying to LEAVE the store. He had no legal right to be detaining me any more, and now, I WANTED to bring the police.
In any case, this went on for several minutes, at which point *I* said I would call the police, since I was trying to leave his store and they were illegally preventing me from doing so. I asked him clearly, “Are you arresting me? Do you have the power to arrest me? I want to leave now.” Yet, these thugs were preventing me from doing so.
Anyway, the Korean friend I had been calling finally picked up her phone and came down to where I was, with this circle of managers and idiot thugs surrounding me. She vouched for me by pretty much BEING Korean and saying I wasn’t working for anyone, but was just a private citizen taking pictures. They “let” me go, and I was pretty shaken and pissed, but I let it go as well. It’s not like the Korean police would have done much, anyway. Had it been the States, though, I would have been curious to know if they could have been sued for “false imprisonment.”
In any case, it’s funny that the most difficulty I’ve had in Korea is with corporate idiots who wear the suits and “guard” against people taking pictures in front of their stores. They are generally idiots and there to harass you, which I guess works with the average Korean citizen. But don’t be surprised if you get in trouble on the corporate end of public spaces in Korea, often in situations where you’d never think anything would be troublesome.
anytime my buddy gw bush takes away freedoms, he always incites ‘national security.’
there was some research done and from the beginning of the US till when clinton left, the govt cited ‘national security’ like 100 times.
gw has already cited ‘national security’ like 70 just in his term.
Sad, really sad.