Update on Expectation of Privacy Laws thread.

[weepete]

Found it! For those that are interested here is the judgement:

Foster v Svenson :: 2013 :: New York Other Courts Decisions :: New York Case Law :: US Case Law :: US Law :: Justia

As far as I can tell from this the judgement was not made on whither the plaintiffs had a reasonable expectation of privacy, but whither Svenson's work could be considered as being used for advertising or trade. The judge ruled that the artists 1st ammendment rights of expression trumped the New York Civil Rights Laws (50 and 51) meaning that the artist did not need consent to display the images as part of his exhibition.

I assume that the plaintiffs took legal advice and that it may have been thought that if you have floor to celing windows in a built up city it could be reasonable to assume that a neighbour may see you from their apartment and therefore there would be no reasonable expectation of privacy
which is why this was not argued in court. I am however speculating on the last part.

 

[Joeywhat]

OK, but where does that "right to privacy" end? Do you have a right to not have strangers on your property or in your home? Absolutely...but are you saying it should be illegal for anyone on public areas to gaze inside your home? We'd all be guilty of that...

It's a very slippery slope, and ultimately we need to realize that we cannot fix every issue in our society with legislation. If you have a clear line of site into your home, then people will be looking, regardless of their intentions. People will catch the insides of homes taking pictures in any heavily populated area, even if that wasn't the focus of their photo/video. Homes will be in the background of the photo/video, people will see inside (if the blinds are open). THAT is the issue with making things like this illegal...you can't just stop the "bad" and let the "good" go through. It stops it all, and it would effectively make taking photos or videos in dense urban areas impossible.

Your right to privacy inside your home isn't absolute.

Just out of curiosity, what amount of legal protection do YOU expect against people snapping photos inside your home with a telephoto lens? We weren't talking about walking by on the sidewalk and looking over, and happening to see inside. We were talking about a deliberate shot, taken from out of view, with a telephoto lens... Inside someone's house. That is a much different scenario than "happening" to shoot inside someones house doing urban street photography or video.

I think it is photographers like that, that make people sour on anyone taking photos in their general direction. They scream about "photographers rights", but then show zero consideration for other peoples feelings, caring only about "getting their shot", any way they can.

Personally speaking, and legal rights aside, i have zero respect for photographers that care more about their "shot" than they do about the people around them.

NONE. I assume that if people can LOOK, they can record. Do I like it? Not really. Do I think anything should be legally done about it? No, as I don't see any good way of legislating such behavior out of existence.

I think people that do it can go to hell, personally speaking...but again. that doesn't mean I think it should be illegal.