New Law Means Photographers In Hungary Must Ask Permission First; Bad Hungarian Cops Rejoice
from the not-waving,-but-drowning dept
Last year, we wrote about a weird law in Sweden that forbade photos from being taken indoors without asking permission. Now Hungary has gone even further. As The Guardian reports, the country has brought in:
a new civil code that outlaws taking pictures without the permission of everyone in the photograph. According to the justice ministry, people taking pictures should look out for those "who are not waving, or who are trying to hide or running out of shot".
Although the Hungarian government claims this is simply codifying existing practice, there's one area where it is likely to have a big impact, as the lawyer Eszter Bognár explains:
"I don't think this is going to change the practice of photographing 'normal' people, because they don't have the possibility to ID the person taking the photo, but it's going to be more difficult to take pictures of policemen."
And Márton Magócsi, senior photo editor at news website Origo, warns:
"The real danger is that private security companies or the police will try to keep reporters and photojournalists out of certain areas, or prevent them and members of the public from taking photographs of their actions," he adds.
That's something we're seeing increasingly, and it seems to be part of a general trend to counter the inconvenient ubiquity of high-quality cameras, now routinely found on mobile phones. The photos and videos they record can be used as compelling evidence of illegal police actions that before might have escaped punishment for want of any proof. The new Hungarian law means bad apples in the country's police force will find it easier to avoid this kind of scrutiny.
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Filed Under: hungary, permission, photography
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Of course!
A citizen is just a criminal who hasn't committed a crime yet, according to them.
You know, at this point, I'm starting to think it might be better for citizens to start hiring criminals who don't wear badges. At least they don't have protection from the courts if they screw up.
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Re: Of course!
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Re: Re: Of course!
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Re: Of course!
Nah, all citizens are criminals. Some of them just haven't been caught yet.
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Re: Of course!
Sounds like the British government.
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Does it also apply to TV cameras, because just how long will that take in a football stadium.
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Waving
Especially since everyone is waving. :)
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Re:
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Re:
Criminal: Yes judge, that's the mean photographer who took a picture of me running away from her while carrying her purse. I've suffered grievous harm as a result of their picture, in the form of being arrested for stealing her purse.
Judge: Shame on you Jane Doe, you should know better then that. Just because a criminal breaks the law doesn't give you the excuse to break the law to by photographing them. It doesn't matter what harm this poor man did or didn't suffer from your illegal photography without his permission, the law is the law, I sentence you to 2 years in jail!
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New law needed
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Great for extortionists in tourist areas
This new law is ridiculous, and another instance of OK for the government, illegal for everybody else police state law.
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Re: Great for extortionists in tourist areas
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Re: Re: Great for extortionists in tourist areas
Besides, our "service industry" already doing a pretty good job at driving off tourism on its own by doing shit for outlandish prices.
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ask permission
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Guy 1: "What're you in for?"
Guy 2: "I murdered my wife and two kids. Yourself?"
Guy 1: "I took a photo in a public place..."
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The new law and video
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Good Cop, Bad Cop
You are of course assuming that there are some good apples in that country's police force bushel basket.
How many police officers there have complained about this new law?
I will lay odds that the answer to that question is Zero.
I will assume that's the same number as the number of good cops in Hungary... hopefully, some good cops will prove me wrong.
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