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Shot pretty girl next door? Prepare for jail time.
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Sweden's parliament has voted in favor of a law that bans taking pictures and filming in a private environment without first getting permission from people in attendance.

    Sweden will ban all photography or videography in the private environment, even when the footage is shot in the street, garden, or for example during birthday parties.

    The law, which goes into effect July 1, is needed, since photographs or movies secretly shot in private settings can seriously violate an individual's privacy, and protection has been inadequate, said the Swedish Committee on Justice. Also, technical advances have exacerbated the situation because it is possible to shoot in almost any location, at any time and under any conditions, and then immediately publish the images and videos on the Internet, it said.

    The Swedish government wants to use this law to prevent that the private life of its citizens is shared with others through for example internetservices such as Twitter, Facebook and Youtube.

    To break the law, photos or videos have to be shot without permission, and the subjects must be in a private environment or place where the expectation of privacy is obvious.

    The punishment will range from a fine to a maximum of two years in prison. Preparing to take intrusive pictures will also be criminalized in some cases, such as when someone installs a hidden camera to secretly photograph or film others. Sweden isn't the only country with such a law -- neighboring countries Denmark and Finland have similar regulations, according to a Q&A published by the Swedish Justice Department.

    Most fun moment is - the law doesn't specify what constitutes consent or define a private environment.

    Things become better and better. Shot your friend at school and shared accidently on twitter - also criminal.

    I think proper next move for Sweden is declaring fucking between man and woman to be criminal and unnatural act. As right now laws are pretty incomplete in this regard, as only woman can declare it such if she no longer loves you after few years.

  • 5 Replies sorted by
  • RRRRRRRR

    I think this law stems from people taking and sharing pictures of women, in sexual intent (without consent).. like street photo but more stalkeresque. It will of course be problematic in the sense that it´s lacking in terms of definition and it will be mostly up to the courts to define it´s end use.

    Mind, the Swedish courts have not been great at defining laws or interpretations of laws of late, and the justice system has some inherent issues with individual integrity. Basically evidence can be obtained by any means and still be considered in court equally.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @RRRR

    I think this law stems from people taking and sharing pictures of women, in sexual intent (without consent).. like street photo but more stalkeresque. It will of course be problematic in the sense that it´s lacking in terms of definition and it will be mostly up to the courts to define it´s end use

    I think it is just all indication of big cancer. As it is meaningless and pointell waste of money and time.

  • RRRRRRRR

    True.. I have no doubt that there are laws which could be interpreted to convict in extreme cases of the example scenario already (sexual harassment or similar).

    The nordic countries seem to be going the route of the US in general.

  • peternappeternap

    @RRRR Not the entire US RRRR. Virginia has a law but specifies where it's illegal and is reasonable IMO. Some states like Maryland have fought to prevent even video's taken in public.

    Va Law: § 18.2-386.1. Unlawful filming, videotaping or photographing of another; penalty.

    A. It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly and intentionally videotape, photograph, or film any nonconsenting person or create any videographic or still image record by any means whatsoever of the nonconsenting person if (i) that person is totally nude, clad in undergarments, or in a state of undress so as to expose the genitals, pubic area, buttocks or female breast in a restroom, dressing room, locker room, hotel room, motel room, tanning bed, tanning booth, bedroom or other location; or (ii) the videotape, photograph, film or videographic or still image record is created by placing the lens or image-gathering component of the recording device in a position directly beneath or between a person's legs for the purpose of capturing an image of the person's intimate parts or undergarments covering those intimate parts when the intimate parts or undergarments would not otherwise be visible to the general public; and when the circumstances set forth in clause (i) or (ii) are otherwise such that the person being videotaped, photographed, filmed or otherwise recorded would have a reasonable expectation of privacy.

  • nomadnomad

    Sounds like a reasonable demand for any honest person. Why can't the Swedish copy that instead waiting for dozens of lawsuits to clear things up?

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