Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2015/07/09

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Subject: [Leica] INFO: Street photography in jeopardy?
From: nwajsman at gmail.com (Nathan Wajsman)
Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2015 09:00:44 +0200
References: <2D51547A-29D6-4C6D-B05A-B54E20FD2DA6@sfr.fr>

Sorry, but this debate is tinged by alarmist BS (the worst was the 
change.org petition that arrived in my inbox yesterday). I see that even Le 
Monde uncritically reproduces materials from press releases without checking 
things for themeselves. 

The facts are:

- this whole debate concerns only COMMERCIAL use. Posting a picture on 
Facebook or your website is not commercial use unless someone pays you for 
it.

- the ?freedom of panorama? where even commercial use is unrestricted exists 
is some European countries (e.g. UK or Sweden) but not in others (e.g. 
France or Belgium). The proposal from MEP Cavada is indeed to harmonise this 
across the EU, and since he is French it is not surprising that he wants to 
harmonise around the French approach.

Most importantly: regardless of what the EU Parliament votes today, there 
will be NO change in the law as a consequence. For that reason, the alarmist 
language in various petitions (I have seen statements like ?in a few days, 
it could be illegal for you to photograph in public?) is pure BS. Why? 
Because the vote of the EU Parliament means nothing. It is just a 
non-binding opinion. The parliament cannot initiate a law; the right to 
propose laws is exclusively with the Commission. Once the Commission has 
made a proposal, then the Parliament and Council decide on it. But not 
before. The Commission is indeed working on a reform of copyright in the EU 
and will probably come out with a proposal in the autumn. Then, and only 
then, will the discussion of this issue or any other copyright-related issue 
become meaningful.

Cheers,
Nathan

Nathan Wajsman

Alicante, Spain
http://www.frozenlight.eu
http://www.greatpix.eu
PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws
Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/

Cycling: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/belgiangator

YNWA













> On 09 Jul 2015, at 08:04, Philippe <philippe.amard at sfr.fr> wrote:
> 
> I hope this amendment will fail later today. 
> Nevertheless, the article (in French) contains some precious info on what 
> you can/can't shoot and use on the streets of Europe
> 
> http://www.lemonde.fr/culture/visuel/2015/07/08/la-photo-de-rue-en-peril_4674294_3246.html
> 
> Amities
> Philippe
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> 



Replies: Reply from philippe.amard at sfr.fr (Philippe) ([Leica] INFO: Street photography in jeopardy?)
In reply to: Message from philippe.amard at sfr.fr (Philippe) ([Leica] INFO: Street photography in jeopardy?)