Threat to photographic freedom

[Scubbie]

Photography may be dealt a major blow if the current proposal is enacted y the European Parliament.

Did you know that it is currently a potential offence to take pictures of the Eiffel Tower? That people actually want to prevent you from taking a picture of the Eiffel tower at night? Well sadly this is true, but worse is to come.

Currently you are allow to take pictures of the London Eye or perhaps the Liver Birds, but this is all set to be challenged.

Wikipedia has now posted up a page to encourage people to contact their MEP. Please can I encourage you all to do something positive to help stop this. Otherwise next time you want to visit London you might not be able to take any photos of your visit at all. So forget that picture of you in front of the Houses of Parliament or of Big Ben. You won't be allowed to take it.

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Free...Europe_in_2015

There is also a petition on-line which you can sign up to:

https://www.change.org/p/european-pa...share_petition

So if you are planing to take a holiday this year and wish to take some pictures of your family, with a local town or city in the background, do it while you can. Next year you might not be allowed to do it.

[lettice]

Another waste of time, effort and money from the EU and another reason to leave.
Wish they would ban anyone taking videos or photos of anyone classed as a celebrity, then we wouldn't have to suffer them.

[Scubbie]

I appreciate you sentiments and you might understand why I no longer purchase newspapers.

However this doesn't just affect people who are on holiday in the UK, it would affect anyone who wants to go on holiday to Spain, Franch, Italy and many other hugely popular European countries that we Brits visit every year all year round.

[coipu]

The thought of Cameron in charge without the EU to keep him in check is a scary scary thing.

[Scubbie]

One more day to sign up to this petition.

https://www.change.org/p/european-pa...edium=copylink

[Scubbie]

Great news for photographers across Europe! A big thank you to everyone who signed the petition from everyone who likes to take pictures.

Anti-Freedom of Panorama Proposal Rejected by EU

Good news for photographers in Europe: freedom of panorama will live on to see another day — in most countries, at least. Today the European Parliament voted on a controversial proposal that threatened to restrict the photography of copyrighted buildings and sculptures from public places. An overwhelming majority of MEPs voted against the plan.

Amateur Photographer reports that only 40 of the 751 members of the European Parliament voted to keep the proposal at the vote in Strasbourg, France. This comes after 540,000 people around the world signed a petition on Change.org to petition the European Parliament regarding the measure.

Dutch MEP Marietje Schaake is confirming that a key paragraph was removed to preserve the freedom of panorama. At the same time, an amendment that attempted to extend the freedom of panorama to all EU countries wasn’t passed, meaning certain EU countries will still be able to restrict the use of photos showing copyrighted structures in public places:




On her website, German MEP Julia Reda writes that the news means that “most Europeans will continue to be able to post selfies online and view photos of famous buildings on Wikipedia unencumbered by copyright.”



“We must now continue to fight for an extension of important copyright exceptions such as this one to all member states,” Reda writes.

Of course it would be great if the respective Governments of those countries whom have laws that technically prevent you from taking pictures of landmarks could relent and retract those laws. In the mean time, for all those travelling across Europe for their holidays this summer, have a great time and don't forget to post some of those pictures here.