Photography and the Law

[Mike Farley]

Every so often, legislators in one country or another decide to place restrictions on photography in public places. For the past year it has been illegal to take pictures of people in Hungary without permission, although I have yet to hear of any prosecutions arising from the ligislation.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/m ... e-pictures

The state of Arkansas recently decided to enact something similar with the bill going through its Senate and required only that it go before the state governor before it became law. Surprisngly, although he had the option to give his assent by signing the bill, if he had done nothing it would still have passed.

http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.co ... ll-79.html

In the event, the governor used his veto and returned the bill to the senate, saying amongst other things that the bill was poorly worded and would lead to unnecessary litigation. It begs the question how such a bill could get as far as it did, but fortunately for us that's some with which the citizens of Arkansas have to contend.

http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.co ... ansas.html

If you believe that something similar could not happen here, think again. The "I am a photographer not a terrorist" campaign came about when the government of the day decided without consultation and no apparent evidence that photography could be used by those who do not wish society well. In the most extreme cases, this resulted in photographers being wrestled to the ground by teams of police and held in cells simply for exercisng their right to take pictures in a public place, but many photographers were subjected to harassment of one form or another. What is frightening is that this occurred without any new legislation being required and existing stop and search powers, later declared illegal, were (mis)used. Fortunately, since those days, more sensible heads have prevailed and the situation is greatly improved.

http://phnat.org/

I am well aware of the date on which this is posted, but it is far from being a joke. No doubt the intentions behind all these actions were well meant, but were poorly thought through resulting in the unintended consequences.