Legal question

[altofran]

Hi,

I know that laws may be different between countries, but if someone could give an answer for Canada and the US it would be great.

What about publishing (like on PBase) of pictures of anonymous people we take on the street? Is it legal to publish it? Or legally someone has to have the agrement (impossible!) of every person?

Thanks!

[srijith]

What about publishing (like on PBase) of pictures of anonymous people we take on the street? Is it legal to publish it? Or legally someone has to have the agrement (impossible!) of every person?

I do not reside in US. But I had read in some mailing list devoted to street photography (actually it was full PDF file that contained legal stuf to be considered when shooting outside) and it mentioned that you do not have to take explicit persmission to shoot (camera!) or publish snaps of people as long as they are in open public places. So, places like a street, or bus stop would be ok. But it seems, places like car park etc. are not ok.

But again, I have no idea about the actual legal aspects. So don't blame me if you are caught

[altofran]

But again, I have no idea about the actual legal aspects. So don't blame me if you are caught

I will blame you! Just kiddin' I guess I'll have to make a little search on Google to find you exactly. Thanks for your answer!

[thresholdprod]

Check on dpreview. This has been discussed in legnth before. I think the general opinion/understanding of the laws are that you can take photos of people in public places. If you are using the images for profit then the rules change. Follow this up with the common sense about not being an a**. If they don't want to be photographed then don't shoot them. If you're going to get sued there has to money there and Joe smo photographer playing with his hobby in the street is of no major interest to a lawyer.

[altofran]

Follow this up with the common sense about not being an a**. If they don't want to be photographed then don't shoot them.

I totally agree that common sense and good manners tell us how to behave, however I was just curious about the legal point. I'm not interested in any 'voyeur' pictures, just snapshots of spontaneous behaviours of people on the street.

I think I've read something before about profit/non-profit situations. I'll check DpReview.

Thanks

[gillettecraig]

In the US, if in a public place (which isn't necessarily the same as a place open to the public), and where you don't have a reasonable expectation of privacy, the pictures should be OK. For commerical use, releases would be needed. However, "legal" doesn't necessarily mean trouble-free.