Loss of Photographers’ Rights – a personal view

The Digital Economy Bill is being railroaded though Parliament by the unelected Minister, Lord Mandelson. This and other government legislation will severely affect the rights and freedoms of photographers in Britain.

Mandelson’s Digital Economy Bill will legalise the theft of photographers’ copyright and enable the setting up of a government quango to make photographers pay money for the privilege.

Meanwhile, in another governmental attack on the rights of photographers, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has deemed that a photograph taken in a public place may now be considered to contain ‘private data’. This will mean that if you take a photograph in a busy street, any one of the people in that picture will have the right to prevent it being published.

I have posted about this subject before . There was so much interest that the PhotoActive server could not cope and the post had to be placed on Online Journalism Blog. The PhotoActive website has now been moved to a bigger server and my  campaign against the legislation can now continue.

These disgraceful proposals will soon become law unless we object NOW. Please write to your MP.

Photography is a hugely rewarding, creative and innocent pastime for countless thousands of hobbyists. These regulations will affect deeply all law-abiding, honest photographers, who will be criminalised by unjust laws and ridiculous regulations.

I have posted below a short piece written by my friend Carl Dania. Carl’s personal viewpoint represents that of a great many more perfectly decent British citizens.

Loss of Photographers’ Rights – we are all in this together
by Carl Dania

I have no political affiliations whatsoever. But I will not be voting Labour under any circumstances come the general election. Simply because Peter Mandelson is a Labour peer – an unelected Government Minister. I have never liked the man, he is a self-serving politician of the worst possible kind. But he has never sought to meddle in my life before, so I have been quite happy to let him get on with it. All this has now changed. Lord Mandy’s Digital Economy Bill, and other government proposals by this government, will meddle in my life in a big way. This is now personal.

Visitors to ‘PhotoActive’ will be aware of The Digital Economy Act now being rushed through Parliament. Philip has already posted on this same subject, and I’m sure he’ll be posting again. It should be at the top of every photographer’s agenda – we must all get together to fight these proposals. Nothing must be left to chance. It really is THAT important.

If you are new to photography in the UK you may have the impression that it is ‘owned and driven’ by a large group of professional photographers, with powerful governing bodies to look after their interests. Nothing could be further from the truth. The huge increase in photography in this digital era has largely involved amateurs and hobbyists. But whatever your level of interest, Copyright Law has been there to protect you. Nothing to join, no forms to fill in, no fees to pay.

Professionals do not have a special level of protection as regards Copyright, nor do they have special hidden resources to draw upon. So there can be no help and rescue from that direction. We will have to deal with this ourselves. That means all of us. Together.

You may be wondering what my own qualifications are. Well, I am certainly not a full-time professional photographer. I would have starved to death long ago.

I spent most of my working life as a police officer in a very busy area. I was forced to retire after 25 years service. I had suffered a severe nervous breakdown. For some years I felt like a character in a film where everyone else had a copy of the script except me.

One day I was rooting through the attic when I came across a Nikon F3 camera. Photography has been a life long interest, and I had bought the Nikon secondhand many years previously (I could never have afforded a new one). I had not used it for a long time. Film and processing costs were prohibitive. That and pressure of work. I latched a lens onto the body, thumbed the film advance lever, and pressed the shutter. ‘Click’. As smooth as silk. I carried on until the near dead batteries died altogether. But something else was going ‘click’. Something inside my head. Some still functional part of my brain grabbed a word out of thin air and clung onto it. The word was ‘digital’. I had heard that same word being applied to photography, and knew that I needed to be part of it.

I am now 63 years old and looking to put my first print exhibition together. It sounds very grand – but it isn’t. I am doing it for the sheer joy of it, and because it is there to be done. It might be a disaster, but it will be my disaster. It might even be a success – whatever that is! I really have no way of knowing. But what I DO know is that if one of my pictures goes missing, leaving a gap on the gallery wall, some serious questions will be asked. The fatuous excuse – ‘I came across it on this wall and took reasonable steps to trace the owner, but without success’ – will not convince me it hasn’t been stolen.

And I see no reason why my virtual images on Flickr or elsewhere should be treated any differently. The only difference is that there will not be a gap on the gallery wall. I will not even know the picture has gone.

Someone could download an image, strip out the EXIF and pass it off as their own. At present, under Copyright Law, they have immediately committed an offence by doing this, and the penalties can be severe. But under the Digital Economy Bill, anyone could take their chances. Provided that they have ‘taken reasonable steps, etc.’ I’m sorry, but wrangling over that word ‘reasonable’ has been lining barristers’ pockets for years.

I know that my experience is not typical, but there is no such thing as a typical photographer anyway. We come in all shapes and sizes, from all age groups, and from all sorts of backgrounds. The affordability and convenience of the ‘digital age’ has seen to that. It has produced a huge and welcome increase in photography, particularly at an amateur level. If you have read this far you will realise that I owe photography a huge debt, and I know it. And that includes a tremendous number of people who have helped and encouraged me on the way.

By comparison, I owe Mandy’s Mafia precisely nothing. Not one penny. For what exactly? Making my life more difficult? I think not.

And thereby hangs the tale. We are not isolated individuals to be picked on by Mandelson or anyone else. Professionals, amateurs, hobbyists – whatever. Collectively, we are all photographers. A huge body of people – there are a hell of a lot of us . And yes – we are all in this together.

If you have already found the links and signed the petitions, then a massive ‘thank you’. If not, please, please – do it. Please do not make the mistake of believing that your voice does not count – it does. Please do not make the mistake of believing this will not affect you – it will.

We are all in this together, so please – just do it – write to your MP and object.

Join Philip Dunn on a Photography Holiday in Menorca – where photographers are always made welcome