Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/04/12
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Robert, > The odds of ending in > prison if you photograph someone in quebec are nil. As for being an anglo, > if the police catch you, anglo or not, the treatment will be the same... Is that a guarantee by you personally? Here, in NYC, where it's perfectly legal to photograph a stranger without permission, I know a number of photographers who've landed in jail for taking photos (albeit after a policeman told them to stop. The police, however, are not within their power to stop a photographer from photographing a public scene and were in the wrong in every instance I'm citing). I don't know exactly where you've come up with an anglo vs. non-anglo argument but, fwiw, you're defiantly ignoring history with your assertion. > > Indeed, it is very much possible that a photo be taken without permission > and do much harm. I take Ted s photo (nom fictif) in public and publish it > without his permission as the header of an article on computer fraud in a > very famous paper (Le Devoir). Ted will not like it and sue like hell. It is only in a published context that the resulting photo can do harm. Permissionless photography is so painless, most people wouldn't know it'd occurred at all. Besides, this law is very much unlike copyright law as it's germaine only to something that is acted in public performance. Optimists everywhere would like to think that people would react by gentle reminders of the law, but that's blindness. Simple things like smoking a cigarette in a grocery store, having terse words in a bar or butting into a line are considered rude. General reaction to these things are first, to angrily scold and second, if the action is defiantly continued, to apply physical restraint. Correct? (ever seen a bar bouncer?) The course of events is always played out in an air aggressive righteousness and the chances of an instant escalation to violence are high to begin with. The fact of the matter is that an individual, 'licensed' by law, to protest the 'crime' of having his photo taken, will _most probably_ react in an angry fashion and should the action continue, _even if the camera isn't aimed at him, but at others_, physical restraint will become the first action. How would you react to having a belligerent stranger grabbing at your multi thousand dollar Leica? I'd optimistically like to think you'ld civilly hand the thing over (After all, it really isn't worth getting injured over) but, you know, something tells me I'd be pretty starry eyed to think that; especially in the heat of the moment. Danny Gonzalez