Legal question: lawsuit / charges possible for taking and publishing photos?

[eliafranke]

Hi local guides community,

I recently went to a local shopping mall and started taking pictures of shops that have no photos on Google Maps yet.
A shopping mall security guard stopped me and told me that it was prohibited to take photographs in the entire mall and I would need a permit.
Voluntarily I showed him the pictures I had taken and deleted them in front of his eyes to calm him down.
I then explained why I took pictures and that I was doing this a hobby etc. and about the local guides program.

There are already threads on this forum about legal questions in regards what you should or should not do. I also understand that law differs in each country.

Now to my question:

Lets say there is a shop that does not allow to take photographs inside their shop. What if I unknowingly of this took pictures and uploaded them on Maps.
What are the possible outcomes?

• Lawsuits possible / likely?
• Penalties, charges or even worse?

Cheers

Elia

[AnuradhaP]

@eliafranke Yes, there is a possibility. If they have clearly shown photographing is prohibited. Please respect their request and you will not face any trouble. 

[eliafranke]

@AnuradhaP Thanks for the quick answer. What if there was no clear sign anywhere?

I still wonder what are the possible consequences?

[AnuradhaP]

@eliafranke It depends on the law of your country. In our country, there is no clear law and it is ok to take a photo in our culture. They will normally not tell anything. 

[LucioV]

I was in the same situation, some weeks ago. A manager of a shop inside a mall, contacted the general manager of the mall that contacted me to delete a photo of the front windows of the shop that he didn't like.

All the thing went smooth, i only asked why and i comply. Eventually, he could flag the image by himself.

I think all you could face is a removal request through flag inside Google Maps.

If photography is strictly not allowed, you could be asked for removal after a law suit, but i think this could be really hard to obtain in a court.

[tmT]

It's better to ask for permission before taking pictures but it's hard. if they don't give you permission you could add a picture of the outside of that place. 

[eliafranke]

Interesting. Do you really think the worst that can happen is they get a court order to remove the picture?

I'd be terrified getting charged for this.

[Iangeorvine]

This is key Question it should be pinned

[Briggs · Accepted solution]

Hello @eliafranke, and thanks for your question.

I've always been a little cautious when it's come to something like this as I don't really want to get on the wrong side of the law. As you already know, laws, regulations and the rights of street photographer's vary by state/country. Here's a FAQ for NSW, Australia as an example.

In terms of your shopping centre experience, these places which also extend to educational institutions, hospitals, sports arenas, etc. are considered to be private property, and so any sort of photography that occurs on premises are regulated by their operators. Some operators don't mind, others may make a huge fuss about it. Alternatively it's usual that there would be no restriction of taking photographs of private property from publicly accessible land.

Of course this all depends on good judgement, personal discretion, not being an obstruction and of course, where you are. But to really answer your question...

1. Any sort of lawsuits of taking prohibited images either at the request of the security guard or charged would be considered as either failure to comply or trespassing.
2. Any sort of penalty (from what I've read) can range from either a maximum of three years and/or a fine. But rarely it reaches the maximum since it would be considered as a basic, non-aggravated offence.

Hope that helps!

[eliafranke]

Thanks Briggs for you answer. That is really shocking!

I'll try to find out more about the legislation here in the UK.