SCS Blog

[jdenm8]

It's to do with France's Copyright Law.

The thing at play here is what's called "Freedom of Panorama", basically that you can take a photograph of something permanently installed in a public space without it infringing on its copyright or intellectual property. This is commonly assumed to extend to virtual reproductions.

France, Russia, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Japan, Sweden, the United States and a number of other countries do not have Freedom of Panorama or have varying complexities. For example: in Russia, the US and Japan, Freedom of Panorama only extends to the exteriors of buildings. Took a photo with people in the background in the US? Congratulations, you've broken US copyright law! Took a photo in one of the beautiful Moscow Metro stations? Congratulations, you've broken Russian copyright law (And there's probably an attendant standing behind you ready to confiscate your SD Card)! Took a photo of anything in France built after 1930? Congratulations, you've broken French copyright law!

An example I can think of is a Wikipedia article for one of the big EU authorities that is headquartered in France. Wikipedia wanted to add a photo (Which they would license under CC) of their headquarters to the article. They got permission from the authority, then the authority realised that they didn't have the right to give permission since, while they owned the building, they didn't own the copyright to the building. It was eventually traced back to the original Artists who denied the request. So the photo on the article is of the Public Domain national flags outside the building with the building itself being in the background, slightly out of focus.

Countries like the UK, Canada, Australia and India, have complete Freedom of Panorama, so you can pretty much do what you want.

Hilariously, North Korea legally has nearly complete Freedom of Panorama (Interiors aren't allowed) while South Korea has none at all.

[M4rkus]

This leads to the issue that photographs from the Eiffel Tower at night can't be freely used because the way the lamps are arranged is still under copyright ... this is an example for rather hilarious legislation, in my opinion.

[ScuL]

I'm a very law abiding citizen but I have very strong sentiments of anger towards unjust legislation as the before-mentioned.

In my opinion the planet is our domain, every human has just as much right to take a photo of anything he/she sees in their surrounding. That's why it's public domain. I really can't stand organisations that take ownership of something that is visible to the public

For similar reasons I also strongly disapprove of the banning of Streetview in Germany and Austria..

[Peterson]

Street-View is another thing, it's a kind of a violation of privacy. For them at least. But hey, remember that Germany will also ticket you for using Waze in your car, because you know where the police is at.

[MistahDave]

Wow Germany. I love Waze, I have used it all across Europe. I am actually a beta tester! I think Belguim is the country that uses it the most (outside of the US). I always see loads of reports and hundreds of other wazers when you load up the map.

[Peterson]

Belgium? When I turned Waze up in Brussels, there were like 20-30 wazers around. When I turned it on in my hometown, there were at least 60 wazers. And whenever I use it, there's always somebody, amd the traffic density is much, much lower than in Brussels.

// Plus I've never seen a cop in Belgium that was a radar. On the other hand, police here has radars in cars, mostly unmarked (no stickers even), you never know when and where they'll be, they hide everywhere. I've never seen a police car in Belgium that was outside the city. Never.

[jdenm8]

I also strongly disapprove of the banning of Streetview in Germany and Austria..

It shouldn't be banned in either. Germany has Freedom of Panorama so long as it's not interiors and Austria is one of only three countries in Europe (The UK and Ireland are the others) considered to have near complete freedom of panorama.

It'd have to be banned on the local or state level.

[MistahDave]

Really?! I've found it more popular than most places in the UK. It's never saved me from police in Belguim just saved me from Brussels traffi'c. it's becoming slowly more popular here in Wales. I've never driven in Slovakia yet.

Also Peterson let's never run a train company. At the rate we're derailing threads we'd be out of business in a week.

[M4rkus]

Actually, Streetview is not banned in Germany. I think, Google discontinued it because it wasn't taken very positively by the public or the press but I think, it is available for some of the cities.

[Vøytek]

AFAIK, people in Germany were able to decide if they want their houses featured in SV. And Google had to blur many houses... Take a look here: https://www.google.pl/maps/@51.0018224, ... !1e1?hl=pl