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by eminent101 728 days ago
> If I walked up to several individuals (maybe even you) on the street with a camera and tried to take a close-up, a lot of them would object. I don't think "why not let me take it, it's already online someplace" would be a convincing reason to allow it.

In many jurisdictions including where I live in, taking pictures at public places is allowed by law whether or not some other human happens to be in the frame of my picture. It is called "incidental inclusion".

Others can request me to exclude them from my picture but they can only request, they cannot force me to do so. Of course, if someone asked, I am going to be nice to them and try and exclude them from the picture. Others could also try and move a bit this way or that way so that they don't get included in my picture. We live in a society and we can work it out.

In reality though, nobody makes such a request because most people know the law and they know that if they are out there in the public, they could become part of other pictures by incidental inclusion.

2 comments

"Incidental inclusion" does not cover walking right up to someone and putting a camera in their face. Like, "incidental" is literally in the term.
> "Incidental inclusion" does not cover walking right up to someone and putting a camera in their face. Like, "incidental" is literally in the term.

Correct! I don't see where I implied otherwise!

> on the street with a camera and tried to take a close-up.

I might break your phone. How difficult would it be to sue me and for what purpose?

> > on the street with a camera and tried to take a close-up.

> I might break your phone. How difficult would it be to sue me and for what purpose?

Easily. Damaging someone else's property is not even remotely on the same level as taking a photo of someone? How do I know it wasn't their _job_ to do so?

Honestly if you think that level of escalation is okay I hope to never meet you in person.

And trust me I find people taking photos of me creepy also but it's easier to block my face myself than to smash the person's device and expect to walk away.

Why would I sue you? I'd just press charges for assault
If we agree on the definition on the assault as this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault

Then it is not assault. See? The problems already started. The best you can get after an ardous process is an apology and a reinboursement, the worst would be it coming back at you.

Where I live, they recently declared gazing at a woman "indecently" as a small sexual crime, same as unrequested flirtatious comments to strangers. I have grabbed phones before, but I admit I haven't broken any. YMMV