Back to the channel today talking about photography and taking videos in public but first of all
if you're new and you're just joining a legal community don't forget to like this video
describe and hit that belt icon so you don't miss out on new videos in case you got questions
of your own you like to ask the practising barrister remember as always this video should
not be taken as a replacement for formal legal advice every situation rests on its own that
and for this particular video I'd like to stress that it is not to encourage you to
argue with other people to argue with the police or to resist police enquiries but it
is to outline what your rights are and what the situation is regarding photography videos
in public because there's a lot of misunderstanding there's a lot of arguments and disagreements
which hopefully I can clear up today the starting point is whether it's a public place or private
land and private land could include a shop for example however there might be a subtle
difference if you do not know that its private land and your taking photographs in that scenario
again this is why different scenarios rests on their own fat but let's focus for a moment
on taking photos or taking video in a public place was there are some caveats which I will
cover during the course of the video the general position is as follows members of the public
do not need a permit or a licence or permission to take photographs or videos in a public
place the police do not have a general power to stop you from taking photographs or from
filming again there are some exceptions which I will come to you have the right to take
a photograph or video of any subject or any place if you are in a public place you have
the right to keep those photographs and video you will own the copyright to those photographs
and video and they cannot be forcibly deleted or even viewed without good reason which I
will come back to in a few moments the mere fact that you are taking photographs or video
by itself isn't a good enough reason for you to be forcibly removed from a public place
building on that still talking about a public place nobody has the right to ask you to delete
photos or video taken no one has the right to view the videos or the photographs that
you've taken and nobody has the right to ask you for a copy of the videos or the photographs
that you've taken so that is the broad position of the law regarding taking photographs and
videos in a public place but as I said and as always there are some exceptions there
are some caveats and some scenarios that you need to be aware of if you are taking photographs
and videos in a public place so that you are better equipped better armed to know exactly
what your position is in case any of these situations arise the first category of exemptions
that I will mention are if the photographs or videos are indecent and hopefully that
should be self-explanatory secondly if the photographs or the video could amount to harassment
or stalking for example if you are following someone around deliberately videoing or photographing
their every move this might amount to harassment and stalking is a fine line here with guidelines
for the media which is a little bit beyond the scope of this video but broadly speaking
members of the press and the media will carry an identity card which will usually show upon
request if you wanted the media to stop taking photographs and video you can pass this request
onto the police who in turn pass that request onto the press or the media and they will
make that request but it cannot be enforced very often with respect to specific incidents
there is what we call a vantage point which might be set up for the media but I will come
back to specific incidents in a moment another broad area is very important to consider is
photographing or videoing children because children are considered to be vulnerable subjects
and there are all kinds of potential legal vulnerabilities filming or videoing children
for example there would be a huge difference between a photographer taking a photograph
in a brand-new park of children playing and having fun to show that this part is a great
asset to the community contrasted with another photographer who is sacked and filming an
entire day of the same children playing in sent Park and in many situations like that
again you may be asked to stop taking photographs for example by a teacher but the broad legal
position is the same but remember if you are taking photographs of children it is a much
more complicated area much more fact specific and if you were arrested and you were charged
with something then just remember that the subjects in those photographs are going to
be considered vulnerable subjects and the burden on you as to why you were taking such
photographs against any complaints that are made about you possibly going to be more difficult
there have been incidents of people being arrested while taking photographs at children
at public events and being asked to leave but generally I would advise that a little
bit of common sense and cooperation goes a long way so that you can avoid having to explain
some very difficult situation just a quick reminder if you find this video useful please
do hit subscribe that help the child grow encourages me to make more videos to help
you understand law the next exemption mention is if you're taking a photograph for the sole
purpose of it being used in a commercial advert for example then you're going to need to get
a model release form you cannot just go and take photographs and use them in commercial
work this is because the law in relation to a model photographic image is not codified
in a single piece of legislation for example there are possible implications with the Copyright
designs and patent act of 1988 data protection act of 2018 and the retained GDP are provisions
possibly a breach of confidence because whilst there is no statutory privacy law in the United
Kingdom there is a growing body of case law which could prevent the unauthorised publication
of an individual's image contract law is also engaged because a mother would ordinarily
be under some sort of a contract for release of the photograph and use of their photograph
image in advertisements and it would govern what happens to that photograph who is distributed
to and so once again if you're planning to use photographs for commercial purposes please
take formal advice don't rely on snippets here and there this is just a brief overview
so you have an idea of what laws might be engaged if you take photographs or videos
for such purposes some common questions or statements perhaps that you might come across
was out taking photographs in a public place are as follows the one you don't have the
right to take my photograph well by law you can take the photograph of any subject in
a public place and you don't need their permission to do so similarly provided the warnings that
I've given you about taking photographs of your children you might have someone say you
don't have the right to take a photograph of my child again the law doesn't address
the specifically you can take that photograph of any subject in a public place with both
of those questions if it is clear that it is a private premises you will need to seek
permission from the owner and if the owner asks you to stop taking photographs then you
must do so another questionable statement might be you are invading my privacy as I
said before there is no statutory privacy law in the United Kingdom a lot of it will
come down to common sense is the photograph in decent is it really invading the person's
privacy do they have a reasonable expectation of privacy in that location at that time doing
whatever it is that they are doing every case is fact specific so they will all turn on
their own facts but broadly speaking there is no automatic breach of privacy just because
you are taking a photograph or video another question or statement might be either don't
like the photograph that you just taken I want you to delete it as I said before neither
your photograph subject nor anyone else has the right to force you to delete the photograph
or video and this also goes for security guards and police which I'm going to come back to
another questionable statement might be that the child subject is under 16 years old and
therefore you cannot publish the photograph however there is no specific age in law that
prevents publication of a photograph but please do bear in mind the things I've said about
whether a photograph is indecent whether it might amount to stalking harassment or any
other kind of breach of privacy because every situation turns on its own facts there is
not one simple blanket rule across the board you must remember that each case will be looked
at independently moving on to another subject of photography and section 43 of the terrorism
act 2000 I've seen lots of videos lately of people taking photographs and videos in public
but say of a police station or police officer and being searched under section 43 of the
terrorism act as usual there is a short version and the long version and as an advocate I
always start the simplified conclusion the proposition under section 43 is as follows
a constable may stop and search a person whom he reasonably suspect to be a terrorist to
discover whether he has in his possession anything which may constitute evidence that
he is a terrorist constable may also seize and retain anything which he discovers in
the course of a search the person under subsection 1 or two above in which he reasonably suspects
may constitute evidence that the person is a terrorist as with many police powers this
one is also derived from reasonable suspicion and is a code of practice for implementing
section 43 searches which I will link in the description some important wording that I
take from this code of practice is as follows that there must be an objective basis for
the suspicion objective being what a reasonable person would think that the person is a terrorist
or that the vehicle is being used for the purposes of terrorism based on relevant facts
information and intelligence and that reasonable suspicion must rely on intelligence or information
about or behaviour by the person or vehicle concerned and he goes on to say that reasonable
suspicion may arise without specific information or intelligence but on the basis of the behaviour
of a person for example reasonable suspicion that a person is a terrorist may arise from
the person's behaviour at all near a location which has been identified as a potential target
terrorists are the words on the one hand they could be relevant facts information and intelligence
that form a reasonable suspicion for a particular area that might be the particular location
is of specific interest or heightened alert or in the example given that a person's behaviour
at or near such a location has given rise to suspicion subject to different scenarios
one potentially by a police station and another one which is miles away from anything the
behaviour in each of those locations could be viewed quite differently but that doesn't
exclude the possibility that a person's behaviour in a location miles away from anything could
amount to reasonable suspicion that they're acting in the course of terrorism taking the
scenario next to a police station I suspect that threshold is going to be very much lower
but by their own code of practice it should normally be based on a range of factors not
just the behaviour of the person itself the point of all this of course is that if a person
is taking photographs and videos at will near a police station and their behaviour and possibly
other relevant factors all taken together give the police the power of a search under
section 43 then they will have the authority to review and potentially detain the images
have been taken but that is not to say of course that such search should be justified
in each and every case of course they should be justified would come back to specific incidents
and one such example would be as follows let's say there's been a horrific road traffic collision
and the police are in attendance and they suspect that a particular person is the cause
of this collision if you turn up and start taking photographs you might well be asked
to stop and to leave because your photographs may prevent the police in their real investigations
and enquiries as to how this collision or how this incident occurred and in doing so
interfere with the course of justice so in that scenario if you were taking photographs
again I would recommend asking the police officers for a specific vantage point where
you are permitted to take such photographs and confirm that you are not going to be in
breach of any of those procedural requirements and finally some broad guidelines of dos and
don'ts that I would recommend as follows firstly I would suggest been polite and respectful
at all times if at all possible ask permission before taking photographs this can very often
overcome problems before they occur because act sensibly responsibly be prepared to answer
questions and be interactive and be polite when answering these questions that can avoid
arguments before they start in a few blanket dumps when taking photographs or videos that
are likely to get you into trouble of course don't frighten intimidate stalk and harass
people in order to get your photograph/avoid taking photographs where a reasonable person
would expect privacy even if you are in a public place if it seems that it's a quiet
cosy conversation perhaps try to avoid photographs and videos in those scenarios because they
may well be a reasonable expectation of privacy even in a specific location within a public
place if somebody does question you about taking photographs or videos in public don't
get angry about it just have a polite conversation explained that there are no specific laws
that what you are doing is lawful providing that it is and if at all possible seek permission
or consider whether your photograph is really worth the argument depending on the second
and finally I would urge you to look for public liability insurance which is available for
photographers and videographers which is certainly worth looking into and something you might
discuss with your standard home insurance whether there is any extra legal protection
what about my cover which you can bundling with your home insurance because very often
that will cover some public liability issues as well so I hope this video has been a useful
overview of taking photographs and videos in public don't forget to like the video if
you found some use thanks for watching and see you next time