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.
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.
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.
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)?
I just looked it up. It appears the "stop people from playing cop" was my interpretation.
It is all about privacy.
Germany has very strict privacy laws. Probably because of our recent history in East Germany and the Stasi who systematic monitored the people. Similar to the NSA, but the state collapsed and people could read their own record. And a bit more "personal" because people where extorted to spy on their own friends and family. Movie suggestion: "Das Leben der Anderen" / "the lives of others"
You also can't film / take photo of people in public or put a camera in front of your house if it has view of the public street.
It's about the potential for abuse. The police can use it as an excuse to charge or arrest you when they don't have anything else on you.
Most of the places with really bad traffic situation (e.g. India) already have cameras and infinite footage of violations, and they don't have any impact on law enforcement.
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.