[Kephael]

There's no such place, smart cameras will be ubiquitous. They are too useful and inexpensive.

[Mashimo]

No, I mean it's against the law for privacy reasons.

I can't just film random people walking past my house.

[strogonoff]

What about dashcams and street photography?

[Mashimo]

AFAIK you can take street photos, if people are not the main subject. You can't take pictures of specific people, up close. I don't know the specific of where exactly the line is.

I don't know how dashcams are handles here in DK I know in Germany there was a long debate and forbidden for a long time. I think in Germany they are allowed now, but you can't just drive around and video everything, only if you are involved in a situation. I think the idea is they don't want people driving around, recording everything to be some kind of vigilante police. Even a good driver breaks some minor rule by accident at times.

Edit: In DK you are not allowed to release the Dashcam footage if there is a person in focus / the main subject. And I assume recognizable. Also only on public roads. Not sure how they handle numberplates.

[gambiting]

In Germany you can have a dashcam and it can be recording all the time, but any and all video recorded by it is inadmissable in court, and you can't share it online without bluring out faces and licence plates. So it's a bit useless. You can have it if you want to record for the sake of it.

[lotsofpulp]

Any and all video is inadmissible? In criminal and civil court?

Even if it shows someone intentionally hurting someone? Or someone trying to pretend to be hurt or pretend to be a victim and defraud someone else?

[Mashimo]

I think his statement is based on pre-2018 law. I quickly read up on it, and I understood it as that it can be used in curt. But you are not allowed to permanently record everything. A record buffer that overwrites itself is ok though.

But even as a native German speaker. It's hard to understand what exactly is allowed and what not.

https://www.finanztip.de/dashcam-urteil/ https://www.adac.de/verkehr/recht/verkehrsvorschriften-deuts...

[boomboomsubban]

Though I don't know the specifics about dash cams in Germany, evidence proving guilt being inadmissible isn't exactly rare.

[Mashimo]

Ah yes. Thank you for the correction. That also stops people from driving around and "playing cop"

[strogonoff]

I’m curious as to why that’s considered bad. I imagine there must be a reason, but from where I am some locations on this planet could really benefit from people literally driving around and filming rampant traffic violations, with law enforcement making use of it.

Is this a forward-looking law that presumes such video evidence may be faked in an undetectable way? Or is there really an expectation of privacy even while you are in a public place (e.g., street)?

[sn_master]

> only if you are involved in a situation

Isn't the whole point of a dashcam to pre-emtively record all the time in case a situation happens? Otherwise I would just use my phone after the fact if I am still able to after an accident.

[ummonk]

What? Sure you can, unless you're in some weird jurisdiction where you don't have the right to film people in public spaces.

Edit: I see you're located outside the US, which is the subject of this article.

[Mashimo]

> I see you're located outside the US, which is the subject of this article.

I know, that is why I said "I live in a country where .."

[craftinator]

This is a beautiful HN classic, they immediately look up your profile after having failed to read a crucial part of your comment.