Well one god-damn person from the school stopped me from bringing my DSLR to sports day due to "privacy concerns". Wow what a good reason to save himself from more work.He sounded informed over the phone but really he doesn't have a clue. Well let's talk about it.
1. The right to privacy was never there.
Unless we have a bill of Rights we will never have the right to privacy (even it is governed by law). But really laws mean nothing. Hence "Constitutionally speaking, there has never been a national concept of a “ Right To Privacy ”"
Does he understand that? Even there's a 2006 Act passed in Vic there's really nothing to it. More so "The statutory protection is quite weak, and whether this will actually help at all in stemming the tide of privacy-invasive behaviour is unclear" So a law tried to fix things didn't fix at it supposed to. Nothing to look here, move on.
2. One can never push me around and seize my camera or film (“ battery ”), or even force you to delete digital files (“ coercion ”).
"Although property owners may use “ reasonable force ” to evict people, they can never threaten violence (“ assault ”), detain you at length (“ false imprisonment ”), push you around and seize your camera or film (“ battery ”), or even force you to delete digital files (“ coercion ”)."
Dare to seize my camera? If you wreck it you pay for it. That's simple. I wouldn't trust anyone to use my camera outside of my dad and people who I am instructing. A Canon EOS 7D and 70-200 F/4L USM is not cheap. :) Well I might get you lots to pay extra for a Canon EOS 1D Mark IV and 300/2.8L II IS it things do go wrong.
Telling me to delete pictures? I only delete pictures if it is either:
not a keeper
Too many shots
It's that girl
Anything other than that they can cry as long as they like.
3. Venue Problems.
"If however the event is held on property not owned or controlled by the organisers, then you are free to photograph as much as you like."
*cough* East Burwood Reserve is by no means controlled by Blackburn High School. So go figure.
4.Pictures taken within school events are of copyright of school.
"Alongside ignorance about the Privacy Act(s), one of the commonest misconceptions about photography is that it can be prevented “ due to copyright ”. This is incorrect — no part of the Copyright Act prohibits any kind photography! Copyright only applies to the published duplication of original works, such as books, paintings, dramatic works, prints, drawings, motion pictures, DVDs, audio recordings etc."
If it's picture taken by me it's mine. (Unless I have given my copyright up and placed it in the Public Domain) Not the schools. The fact that all Luna Park shots that I did (that appeared on the newsletter) are of copyright of mine. I just gave the permission to publish them on to the school letter.
In fact I can sue them for not stating the photographer and that copyright belongs to me. Just that there's too much work for too little. (Well I can sue them for a bit of $$$ but why bother?)
Conclusion
After all, the school rules on Photography are pretty much in a mess. They are either wrong or out of age. They never respect Photographers like me . Looking at the records of our school, I highly doubt that they will ever fix it. Thank god I am getting out of this mess after this year. Before that I just have to work hard to prove that a Photographer is actually a decent student. Afterall, still worth a rant though. At least it takes my anger out at those Bastards.
