A Summary Of Your Rights As A Photographer
February 27, 2012 
Inspired by a video that I saw the other day, I thought it was about time that I helped you to understand your rights when it comes to photography. Most people probably aren’t aware of their exact rights, and every day it’s growing more and more important to know what you can and can not do.
Disclaimer: I am British and these rights are accurate as far as UK law is concerned. If you are American, there may be some discrepancies.
Your Rights
If you’re on public property, you can take photos of whatever you like. Whether it’s property or people, you don’t need anyone’s permission. Some people are going to tell you that you can’t take photos of private property, such as bank buildings and people’s houses, but I’m here to tell you that so long as you’re on public property, you can. This means that you can take photos in public libraries, museums, government buildings, from the street, and anywhere else public. Only where a specific law prevents such shooting are you not allowed to take photos.
You’re also allowed to take photos in private property which is open to public, such as shopping centers and malls, pubs, and restaurants, etc., but you will have to stop if you’re asked to by the owner/management. Sounds fair enough to me.
You don’t need a person’s consent to take their photo if they are in a public place. They do have a reasonable right to privacy though, so you can’t be intrusive if they’re in a private place, such as their own home. This means that if they’re walking down the street, you can take their photo, but you can’t peer through their living room window and start snapping.
The word terrorism is a word that comes up far too often with photography in a public place, such as in the video below, but the truth of it is that it’s just used as a scare tactic to stop people from using their camera. Photography in a public place is not a terrorist activity, and the word should never been used against use for the sake of ‘security’, if you’re not breaking any laws.
No one can make you stop filming them if you’re in a public place; it’s your right to do so. I’ve seen videos time and time again of people shouting ‘you don’t have permission to film me, you need my permission’, but the truth is that they’re uninformed on the subject, and you can carry on as you like, so long as you’re in a public place. Video example below contains adult language.
Nobody can make you delete the photos that you’ve already taken, even if it was on private property without permission. Even if it’s a police officer, they would require a court order to even take the camera off you if they’re not making an arrest.
A common situation where I’ve seen the above happen is at concerts. The venue can tell you that you’re not allowed to take photos and you should follow that rule as it’s private property, but they can’t then break further laws as a result. I’ve seen security delete photos, and even take the camera away from the audience members, which is technically theft and destruction of personal property, which is not just a legal case, but a civil one too.
You don’t have to provide your ID to anyone (including security), unless they’re police officers in states/countries where the law dictates that you must.
Tips for getting out of a sticky situation
It’s your right to ask why you’re being stopped and you should take full advantage of this. Ask as many questions as you can to clarify your rights. For example, ask why you’re being stopped, and if you’re allowed to leave. Chances are that if you are allowed to leave, the problem is solved. If not, ask the name of the person stopping you, whether it’s security or police (ignore all members of the public who try to do this), who their employer is, and what legal purpose they have to be able to stop you and/or confiscate your equipment. If that’s still not working, ask them to quote the exact laws, which allows them to do what they’re doing. Chances are they can’t, as you’ll see in this article.
Threats of public order, rights to privacy, terrorism, are usually unfounded, and the best way to get to the bottom of the threats is to ask lots of questions, which most people seem to not be able to answer.
I know this article probably seems a little bit anti-police, but it’s not meant to be that way at all. There are plenty of police officers who know your rights, but there is a select few who don’t. I’m not suggesting that you go up and start taking photos of police officers just because you can, remember they have a job to do, but when you have a reason to, then you shouldn’t be afraid, or deterred from doing so.
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hi,
is it the same for using the photos, for example, in competitions or magazines?
I assume this applies for the states, any idea if the laws and rights are similar in Canada?
I’m afraid I don’t know. All I know is that these rules are correct for the UK.
In the case of urban exploration, we often break in and some places aren not fully abandoned (the power plants for instance). What if we are caught by “someone” or the owner, and asked to remove the photos? Are we allowed to say “no”?
Absolutely you are, it’s a destruction of your property, and if they want to take matters further then they have to use a court order. At least that’s how it is in the UK, it may be different in Japan.
Pretty simple. Okay, imagine that I saw a funny looking person on the street (public place), snapped his photograph and have it published in a popular magazine. Sometime down the road the person saw the picture that I took of him in the magazine and he was very displeased. Can he sue me?
No he can’t, if it’s published by a magazine then it’s their responsibility. The term ‘editorial usage’ gets taken advantage of because it allows you to use the photos without a release, so there’s a few grey areas over what editorial usage actually is. I would say that this is probably one of these grey areas.
This was an awesome article. I cannot confirm but I think as per the US Law, you can take pictures or videos of people or private property while being on the public space but you cannot record their voices or sounds.
In any case, this was an enlightening article for a beginner like me.
very informative article. but if a security person asked me to stop taking photos of a bank because it undermines their security, is should stop because they have rights too. but it will be different if they asked me to erase what i have already taken photos of or if they do not allow me to leave or something…. maybe we should be sensitive to security also, i think…
You might want to use your discretion if you’re not really getting the photos you want, but you should never just stop because they’re asking you to. Their rights are not to stop you from doing what you want to do, and they should know better.
Nice summary of UK photography laws. I see a lot of articles about US laws, but not enough about over here. Thank you!
I saw this on another site…worth a watch..
http://diyphotography.net/shooting-time-lapses-in-pennsylvania-have-a-reason-or-get-busted#comments