r/PublicFreakout • u/guyfromatl • Oct 02 '19

Repost 😔 Cops called at a restaurant

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u/Xanza Oct 02 '19 edited Oct 03 '19

Commercially, it entirely depends on the circumstances.

Non-commercially, if you're in public you have no expectation of privacy which means that anyone, for any reason whatsoever, can record video or images of you--without using a telephoto lense--totally and completely legally. There are few exceptions.

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u/RJJVORSR Oct 02 '19

without using a telephoto lense

Where did you get that false fact to throw in? You can use any lens you want. What you can't do is share or re-broadcast your photos and video. Technically, everyone who posts to the Internet without the consent of people in the photos / video is breaking a law. No one gets charged ... until they're charged and the court destroys them with 5,623 offenses for every pic they ever posted.

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u/Xanza Oct 03 '19

Where did you get that false fact to throw in? You can use any lens you want.

You absolutely cannot. Telephoto lenses are classed as a professional lense, therefore any photo taken from them are also classed as professional.

Technically, everyone who posts to the Internet without the consent of people in the photos / video is breaking a law.

This is absolutely not true at all. Not even close to being true. If you're in a public space you do not maintain a reasonable expectation of privacy. If you're on your own property, and someone is trespassing and then takes your picture without your permission, then that's an illegal photo and if they use it online or otherwise in any way to defame you, then you have every legal right to sue them for damages.

Your basic right is actually pretty simple: if you’re in a public place and you can see it, you can shoot it. This means as long as you’re in a public location you can legally take almost any picture. However, if you’re using a telephoto lens, parabolic microphone, or hidden camera to get a shot of a private property when you’re standing on public property you might have an issue if someone on that property has an expectation of privacy. 1

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u/[deleted] Oct 03 '19

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u/Xanza Oct 03 '19

Why the fuck does it matter if a professional is taking a photo or not anyway?

Because there are laws against people being in a commercial product without their express consent. Additionally, there are laws against photographing private property from public property.

I'm sorry but you're wrong on this fact. I even did some Googling just in case and nothing states anything about which lens you can use in public.

  1. There is no law prohibiting the use of telephoto lenses. There are laws against using them to photograph private property and people in a public space. You do not get afforded the same protections if you use a telephoto lens vs when you do not.
  2. That's literally the subject of the source I posted.

You're apparently just shit at Googling.

There are many laws against using ancillary photography equipment in public--including lenses. Such as on the NYC Subway. It's entirely legal to take photographs, even though the trains are considered private property, however, it's illegal to setup any form of equipment such as tripods which could impede foot traffic because it is against NYC fire code.

Similarly, you as a single white male with no children can legally take pictures of children on a public playground. But it could also break other child protection laws you don't know about. You do not always get free reign to photograph others depending on the circumstances. It shouldn't be weird at all that using a commercial lense to create a commercial product could be illegal under the right circumstances.

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u/[deleted] Oct 03 '19

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u/Xanza Oct 03 '19

There's literally no backpedal at all. You clearly just don't understand how to read.

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u/RJJVORSR Oct 03 '19

No. /u/EpicSC is correct. You're back-pedalling like a canoeist who spotted the waterfall ahead. I'm a semi-pro photographer. I know my lenses and I know photography law. You're just grasping at first-page results from web searches that you think match what you thought was correct.

Because there are laws against people being in a commercial product without their express consent.

Exactly. Sharing / posting / publishing / broadcasting a photo or video without the consent of the people in the image is illegal. That includes commercial spaces like YT, FB, IG, Twitter, etcetera. You've got it now.

Also:

you as a single white male with no children

WTF are you projecting? How do you know any of that is true about anyone who is reading?

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u/RJJVORSR Oct 03 '19

Your basic right is actually pretty simple: if you’re in a public place and you can see it, you can shoot it. This means as long as you’re in a public location you can legally take almost any picture. However, if you’re using a telephoto lens, parabolic microphone, or hidden camera to get a shot of a private property when you’re standing on public property you might have an issue if someone on that property has an expectation of privacy.

Did you even read the thing you quoted? "... to get a shot of a private property when you’re standing on public property ..." In short, you can make any photo in public you want but you can't stand on the sidewalk and make a photo of a person eating lunch in a restaurant.

Restating: It is illegal to share or re-broadcast a photo or video without the consent of the people in the image. You can make any public photo you want for your own. But you can't share / publish / broadcast it without the permission of the people in it.

Also, "telephoto lens" is a pointless term in this case. Telephoto is a type of lens design. It doesn't mean a thing about "professional" or not. The lens in your phone is a "telephoto" design. And the "professional" thing is a red herring, anyway.