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Not allowed to photo your own kids !!!!!!!

64 replies

nicnaksmum · 13/03/2007 12:31

Did anyone else see this article in one of the sunday telegraph? The government and local councils want to make it illegal to photograph your own children in a public place - parks, school events etc. A welsh council has already tried to implement it but luckily turned it down at a last minute vote as they thought it would be really difficult to implement. This is soooooo crazy ... please go to this link at the 10 downing street website to sign their petition to stop this legislation.

petitions.pm.gov.uk/Photography/

sorry i can't do a proper link

OP posts:
RubberDuck · 13/03/2007 13:56

Oh, and they're allowed to fingerprint our children (okay, so it's the daily mail... but hey, I'm in righteous indignation mode)

KathyMCMLXXII · 13/03/2007 13:56

Good point about CCTV, Rubberduck.

whywhywhy · 13/03/2007 14:00

This is insane paranoia.

If a paedophile wants to get off on looking at children, vile though this is, he need only step out in the street or actually go to the park.

As to the child abduction point- well maybe- but are you saying that after public photography is banned, these will stop or even be reduced? That hardly seems at all likely. If someone is crazed enough to plan a child abduction, they will do it anyway. And if they want to take the pictures first, they will stalk their victim and/or hide. I can't see park keepers going through the bushes to enforce this one, can you? It will just mean lots of officious types saying 'you can't do that 'ere mate' and confiscating people's family snaps.

Why in g*d's name are we so utterly obsessed with policing and privatising everything to do with children?

Tell you what, why not ban all public photography without a licence. Potential stalkers of adult women (and men) probably photograph them all the time. A freaky serial killer could be pasting their walls with collages of you and your family and your innocent pets. FFs.

RubberDuck · 13/03/2007 14:02

whywhywhy: I'm guessing that's what it will extend to. I'd lay odds on amateur photography being gradually restricted.

As a hobbyist camera enthusiast it's making my blood boil, it really is.

LilRedWG · 13/03/2007 14:07

Paranoia - totally agree with whywhywhy!

We were pleasantly suprised when we took DD swimming for the first time that I was not told to put my camera away, nor did any other parents give us funny looks. I was careful to only get DD and DH in pics, but surely I shouldn't even have to worry over that! Also pleasantly suprised at CenterParcs last week - no-one minded us taking pics in the pool and it was crowded, so noway of excluding other people.

Kelly1978 · 13/03/2007 14:10

If someone is taking pictures of your children though, you ask them to stop, isn't it simple?!

I've had taht experience, a couple of blokes in a park with no children with them photographing my daughter. I went straight over and insisted that they stopped and deleted those they had taken. It isn't roket science. I wouldn't get at all insulted by parents photographing their children near mine, I'd jsut be polite and move mine out of the way for a minute.

zippitippitoes · 13/03/2007 14:13

I'm sure they don't have these rules in other countries..even disney don't stop you taking photos or videos unless you infringe their copyright

RubberDuck · 13/03/2007 14:44

Actually, the more I think about this - how the hell are they going to enforce it?

There are NO park wardens in any of the playground or public spaces near us - hell, if there were it might mean that all the play equipment would remain unvandalised for more than a week.

Would be ironic if you got a fine because you were photographed on CCTV taking a photograph of your child...

wannaBeWhateverIWannaBe · 13/03/2007 14:54

this is getting a bit histerical don't you think?

reality is, if someone took a picture of your children and they didn't want to delete it, there is absolutely nothing you could do about it. their camera, their property, their photograph.

And actually the chance of a photograph being used for sinister purposes is greater than you might think. there is currently an international operation under way to try and stop this from happening, in fact there was someone on mn who was accused of doing just that - she set up a fictitious childmodelling website claiming to have vast experience of child modelling, she did it to obtain photographs of young children, many mn'ers sent pictures of their children to her. It was suspected that she sold these pictures to child porn sites although no evidence was found to prove that. If you have pictures of your children on your profile someone with sinister motives could download them to their computer and use them to their benefit. so the reality is a lot lot closer than we perhaps would care to admit. And anyone that thinks this is unlikely to happen is very naive IMO.

with the internet a lot more people have access than would ordinarily be the case.

whywhywhy · 13/03/2007 14:55

I bet it will just involve lots of nosy b**stards and/or screechy paranoid parents going 'get that camera away from that poor child!!' and the odd Community Support Officer pulling parents over into the park bushes for their offensive public voyeurism.

Nbg · 13/03/2007 15:07

Signed.

Surely theres more pressing problems in this country than people taking photos of their children in public FFS.

Roskvawantingsomesunshine · 13/03/2007 15:09

Signed - talk about nanny state gone mad . And with camera phones all the rage, it is completely unenforceable!

ivelostmyboobsboohoo · 13/03/2007 15:13

signed.

totally and utterly bonkers. makes me furious enough that ds's school doesnt allow us to take pics/video their school plays/nativities. as my mum, avid daily mail reader would say- 'bloody nanny state' !!!!!!!!!!!

RubberDuck · 13/03/2007 16:18

In case people think it might be limited to just that one council in Wales, this list of early day motions strongly implies the Mayor of London wants warning signs in public parks . (no 251) - so not an isolated case.

LittleSarah · 13/03/2007 16:24

Honestly some people need to get a grip. Imagine not being able to take pictures of your own children/friends/family in a public area!

Ludicrous

Honestly, it is shite like this that makes me start daydreaming about moving abroad.

Caligula · 13/03/2007 16:33

Hysterical idiocy.

This legislation isn't about not photographing children. It's about the state making sure that we can't take pictures of things it doesn't want us to. That's what any legislation would eventually be used for.

yellowrose · 13/03/2007 16:57

If you don't want anyone w*ing over you child's photo, don't put their photo on any website, including this one. I would love to post ds photo on MN, but won't for the reason that I have no idea who logs on every day. Too many weirdos around.

A friend of mine was so naive, she put her name, her son's name plus their whereabouts on a weblog. I told her to remove them.

Much higher chance of someone finding a photo of a child on the net than actually photographing your child in a public place without you noticing.

mumtwogirls · 13/03/2007 17:20

Just adding to this message although I haven't read all of this. It is crazy all this paranoia of banning photographing children in public places. I used to work in Intellectual Property (copyright issues!) and so I can understand in some places you should seek permission to take photographs of certain buildings and also seek permission from parents for photographing child models in these places for commercial purposes. However, if you are just taking pictures of your children in public places and it is for personal use then you should not be stopped from doing so. I could go on all day. I am a photographer and I photograph children in various parks but have their parents with them. I have never posted any of the children on the internet as I have yet to set up a website (lol) but when I do, I have the headache of having to clear permission with the parents. I hope I don't have to write to the council as well with regards to showing their parks for my commercial gains.

Sorry for the long note but just thought I should add my tuppence worth. I probably didn't make much sense.

KathyMCMLXXII · 13/03/2007 17:22

My main objection to this is not that it is some kind of inalienable human right to photograph our own children (after all, it's only been the last couple of generations where we've done this) but that it promotes paranoia: putting up signs in parks would give credence to the idea that there really are paedophiles around every corner.

Caligula · 13/03/2007 18:15

Well also it promotes the idea that the state has the right to tell you what to do in public places; "no kissing", "no farting" "no talking loudly" "no eating sherbert" "no wearing hats" "no discussion of unsuitable topics" etc.

Madniss.

KathyMCMLXXII · 13/03/2007 18:18

Very true.

Caligula · 13/03/2007 18:18

It sort of ties in with the idea that we're all dangerous yobbos. All those notices in public places that invite us not to beat their staff up, as if that were the first thing on our minds. This peadophile round every corner thing is similar.

It all kowtows to the idea that we are not capable grown up responsible citizens, but a bunch of thugs and peados who can't be trusted.

Very depressing view of our fellow humans.

yellowrose · 13/03/2007 19:26

Oh but Caligula, no matter how hard I try not to be paranoid , when it comes to my son I am totally and utterly paranoid.

KathyMCMLXXII · 13/03/2007 19:28

Yellowrose, isn't that all the more reason why the people in authority have a responsibility to be calm and level-headed about risks, rather than give in to our irrational paranoia?

yellowrose · 13/03/2007 19:30

Yes, I agree. I think it is totally pathetic TELLING people not to photo kids in parks. It is absurd. But as we all know, those in power are not the ones with the most sense