View Full Version : Is the Law Right Here?


Cryozombie
09-20-2008, 12:39 PM
I posted this to MT in the Study, but I wanted to cross post it here, since there is a photography section and discussion about photography laws may apply here:

I don't condone this man's behavior... hes a freakin Pervert... BUT... I question the law as it was brought to bear on him.

Quote:
NEW YORK - Police arrested a man accused of taking a cell phone picture under a subway rider's skirt after the victim said she used her own phone to snap back. The 28-year-old woman said she was victimized last month while climbing stairs to an elevated station in upper Manhattan. A passer-by confirmed her suspicion that he had taken a photo up her skirt, she said.
She followed the suspect onto a train, took his picture, then e-mailed it to police and filed a report. "I told him 'smile' because I am going to the police," the woman told The New York Times.
Aaron Olivieri was arrested Tuesday on misdemeanor charges of attempted unlawful surveillance, attempted sexual abuse and harassment.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26795214/

The Following Excerpt is from the "Photographer's Rights (http://www.krages.com/ThePhotographersRight.pdf)" pamphlet written by the Law Offices of Bert P Krages II


Quote:
The general rule in the United States
is that anyone may take photographs
of whatever they want when they are
in a public place or places where they
have permission to take photographs.
Absent a specific legal prohibition
such as a statute or ordinance, you are
legally entitled to take photographs.
Examples of places that are traditionally
considered public are streets,
sidewalks, and public parks.
Members of the public have a very
limited scope of privacy rights when
they are in public places. Basically,
anyone can be photographed without
their consent except when they have
secluded themselves in places where
they have a reasonable expectation of
privacy such as dressing rooms, restrooms,
medical facilities, and inside
their homes.

That being the case, is it right to charge this man for what he did, despicable as it is? I mean, I'm gonna assume he was some pervy dude hanging out under the platform stairs to take the pic, but really for all we know he was there saw the woman's goodies were visible and shot the pic... And either way, is it REALLY chargable if her skirt was revealing her bits/undies as she walked up the stairs in a public place? Would the same charges apply if her skirt blew upward ala Marylin Monroe and he snapped the photo? It just seems a really grey area to me... because people have no "expectation of privacy" in a public place, right?

Silent Bob
09-20-2008, 05:31 PM
There's a difference between a private person and a public one.
Public personalities have less privacy because they are public.
It falls under the "news" aspect of things I believe.

Here's a good link to reference
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/andrewkantor/2006-08-11-photography-rights_x.htm
Which includes this PDF
http://www.kantor.com/useful/Legal-Rights-of-Photographers.pdf
(Note, US info, other nations will vary)

There is also an earlier article
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/andrewkantor/2005-12-29-camera-laws_x.htm
which links to a Photography Privacy Primer
http://www.rcfp.org/photoguide/

Good reads, all of em.