To be shocked to discover

[Junipercrumble]

Apparently, it is NOT illegal for a stranger to take photographs or video clips of people, including their children in a public place. 😵

I, like many of my friends are astonished if this is true.

I wonder how many people are aware of this?

I knew this as common knowledge too. Where do you live OP?

So a random stranger, let's say an adult on their own, can walk into a playground and take pictures or videos specifically of my child, which then belong to the random stranger, and then post them on their own instagram page? 🤨
Without my permission?
With no consent from anyone?
Can I force them to delete the images if I catch them snapping away?
Does my child or myself have any rights to images taken by a complete stranger?
Surely it is a flagrant breach of our privacy?

It is true. However, I think that photographing breastfeeding women may not be legal?

Paparazzi have no interest in taking random pictures of strangers or their children though, and surely they have to get permission first, either from a parent if they wish to capture images of a child, or an adult themselves if they wish to capture images of an adult?

Do you genuinely not understand what paparazzi means? When you see a picture of a celebrity looking like shit, stumbling out of a club pissed, did you think the photographer had to ask permission?!

I was at the airport and a bunch of young men, around 20-30year old were taking photos of my then 2yr old DS. At check in and on the plane eventually. It made me so uncomfortable but could do nothing but ask them nicely to not to.

I think I've always known that anyone can take pictures of whatever they want in a public place. Haven't you seen films shot of life in the past, or pictures of kids playing on the street? Or candid shots taken by artists, or pictures in newspapers or magazines? It is polite to ask, I think if someone is the main subject of your photo, but otherwise I am not shocked, or even bothered that much.

No one in my circle of friends were aware of this

I'd be amazed if anyone in my circle of friends DIDN'T know this! Surely it's very common knowledge?!

Yep. Common knowledge. But I'm a photographer so that's probably why!

CCTV is not singling my child out and is for the purposes of crime prevention.
That's a legitimate reason to capture images of many people going about their business.
CCTV dont post children onto SM, and it is my child I am most concerned about, not myself.

If I discovered someone had deliberately targeted my child in a photograph, I would demand they delete the image there and then.
What possible reason could they have for wanting to take pictures of my child unless it was nefarious?

You might be shocked to know how many photos of your child/ren are out there without your knowledge, OP.

Background in park, gathered around a cake while the birthday child blows out the candles etc.

I completely understand you felt uncomfortable!
What was their reason for taking the pictures?
I find this intrusive and weird!
Did they delete the photos?

It isn’t a breach of your privacy because the pictures weren’t taken in private.

If you’re in the park or walking down the street with your child, you are in a public place. If you’re out in public, you are aware that people can see you; if they capture an image of you, that image simply replicates what people can already see in public.

I would demand they delete the image there and then

And if they refused?

If they refused, at this point they would know I was extremely unhappy about them having the image, but what could I do?
Call 101?
Rip the camera from their hands and smash it?
I dont know. What could I do if they refused?

Without being rude or wanting to trigger anyone, really op- pervs don't want photos of fully dressed kids in parks. They have the internet and its many and varied horrors. The only time I have seen people taking photos of kids has been to document bad behaviour to show to local schools- the mums kicked off then , braying about no right to take photos off their kids etc .

Has this actually happened op? Someone has taken photos of your child? Or a friends child? For no reason at all? Other than mystery nefarious reasons that you me imagines could be far better found upon the dark web?

Nothing.

They haven’t done anything illegal so there’s nothing for the police to do.

Ripping the camera from their hands and smashing it would likely end up with you facing an assault charge.

You don't have any right to privacy in public.

You couldn’t do anything. Which is where we came in.

Why are you so worked up about something that will probably never happen? You sound a bit paranoid.

Like those mums, I've always believed that random strangers have no right to take pictures of children unknown to them without permission.
I saw a post on SM last week where a mum in my town claimed a man walked into a playground and proceeded to take a video clip of her DS, and when her DS asked why the man was videoing him, the man refused to disclose his reasons, refused to delete the images and stated the images would be submitted to the police.
The boy was understandably frightened, with the threat of the police and his mum was furious at the infringement of his privacy.
A poster commented on the thread to say this man had not done anything illegal! 🤔
It's not right though.

Do you slap the camera out of the hands of other parents who are taking photos/filming the school play that your child happens to be in?

It's perfectly legal and I've always known this.

Just look at new reports when they film non-famous people - for example reports on obesity and they always seem to zoom in on a couple of larger arses or stomachs walking along the street going about their business - I've always felt sorry for these people of the happen to see the report in question and recognise their own arse on there!

I was apparently on BBC News myself a few years ago, it was a crowd scene of people walking through the city centre and they zoomed in on me, I would have been walking to work at the time and people kept ringing to tell me afterwards! I didn't see it myself so no idea if I looked rough or not. (It was my face not my arse 😅)

If they refused, at this point they would know I was extremely unhappy about them having the image, but what could I do?
Call 101?
Rip the camera from their hands and smash it?
I dont know. What could I do if they refused?

Lol

Think about girls day at the races, and festivals and all other photo media coverage

I see why it makes some people uncomfortable, but overall I think it’s a good thing. Without that freedom we would have a much poorer record of life, a lack of candid, unfiltered views of humanity and a harder time holding people to account. If you couldn’t take photos of other people without their permission it would make a lot of photography virtually impossible, especially in urban environments. Nothing with anyone in the background, no shots of crowds, many sporting events would be out of the question.

There are some rules about publishing photos of people for commercial purposes. I can see there may be a need for some further safeguards, use of photos to titilate, for example.

But you should not expect to have a general right to privacy when you’re in public. If you want to be private, stay in private. Public life doesn’t give you that kind of control because it impinges on others ability to enjoy life and comment on it.