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Illegal To Take a Photo In a Shopping Center?

Posted by Soulskill on from the common-paranoia dept.

New submitter Kyrall writes "A man was questioned by security guards and then police after taking a photo of his own child in a UK shopping center. The center apparently has a 'no photography' policy 'to protect the privacy of staff and shoppers and to have a legitimate opportunity to challenge suspicious behavior.' He was told by a security guard that taking a photo was illegal. He also said that a police officer claimed, 'he was within in his rights to confiscate the mobile phone on which the photos were taken.'"

5 of 544 comments (clear)

  1. Won't Somebody Please Think of the Shoppers? by xstonedogx · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A spokesperson for Braehead said it wanted to "maintain a safe and enjoyable environment" for shoppers.

    There is literally nothing I enjoy more than to have a security guard and the police question me in front of my small child when all I was doing was minding my own business.

  2. Re:Get a life by GrahamCox · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No, that is NOT the real question. The real question is why the fuck we are building a society for ourselves that is undoing all the hard-won freedoms we've fought for and earned in the last few hundred years. If one of the ways people exercise those freedoms is to tweet and blog all day long, theta's up to them. You're also free to ignore them.

    Cherish it, it clearly isn't going to last.

  3. Re:Recent experiences in the U.S. and Canada by bky1701 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Think it is bad for taking photos? Try living barefoot. Then you'll see just how pervasive corporate control really is over your life.

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    Great Intellect...
  4. Re:No. by Firehed · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He also doesn't have the right to say that breaking his mall's rules is illegal. If you break policy, they can ask you to leave. If you refuse, you are then trespassing. That is illegal. Despite what cops (or pompous property owners) say, photography is not a crime. They can neither confiscate your camera nor make you delete the photos.

    Of course, that only applies to the US; YMMV but I expect most countries are very similar.

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    How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
  5. Ooh, get this. by headkase · · Score: 4, Insightful

    My new mall has a policy that it's against the rules to be black in it. So, can my rent-a-cops call real cops and make black people leave and maybe arrest them too? There's a big difference between "policy" and "illegal." When your "policy" becomes "law" then we're back to fiefdoms.

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    Shh.