Filming public meetings and members of the public

[allibaba]

I wondered if someone can help me at all. There was a change in the law recently regarding the filming of public meetings such as council meeting or parish council meetings.

I understand the principal behind this but the new ruling appears silent on the publication of the filming. Can it be posted on You Tube or do all participants or those present at a meeting need to give consent?

Also can you be filmed on the street by someone (unknowingly or otherwise) and have this posted on You Tube without consent?

To put this in context, there is a group who are filming meetings (in areas where they are non-resident) and interactions/altercations with members of the public outside of the meetings and posting them online.

Watching, as I'd like to know the definitive answer.

My understanding it that you can film public places (providing it's not somewhere where there would be a reasonable expectation of privacy) so in the street would be OK.

In public meetings, I'm not so sure. There are different rules for different things (Parliament yes, courts no)

The regulations are not silent at all on publishing anything you have filmed. You can use any communication method, including the internet, to publish, post or share the any film you make. No further consent is required.

Turning to filming on the street, if someone is the focus of a clip (e.g. they are being interviewed) the film may constitute personal data in which case the Data Protection Act applies and consent should normally be sought. However, there is an exemption in the Data Protection Act for journalism. Provided the film is only for journalism, it is obtained and processed with a view to publication and the film maker reasonably believes publication is in the public interest they are exempt and can therefore publish the film without obtaining consent.

If a passer by appears in a clip the film maker does not need consent in order to publish the film. Similarly if a crowd is filmed, e.g. at a demonstration, the film maker does not need consent.

Based on the information you have posted it sounds like the group you mention are acting entirely within the law.

Thanks for that bridge, that's really interesting. But also worrying for me as I don't have a large online profile and strongly object to being filmed in the street particularly when the filming isn't disclosed first.

The disruption the group are causing to the meetings I mentioned through their aggressive behaviour is making the basic running of meetings very difficult. You can't ask them to leave ( as this would inflame things and involve the police) so I thought that preventing the publication would help. Sadly not.