The State of Privacy and Photography in the 21st Century
A few nights ago on SBS Insight (October 25th, 2011) a discussion took place around the very topical issue of protecting the privacy of the individual in public spaces.
The federal government is currently looking at whether to introduce legislation that will make it possible to sue someone for a serious invasion of one’s privacy. But this is a highly complex issue and drawing the proverbial line will surely prove extremely challenging.
Federal Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim asserts that the public is defining ‘privacy’ in much broader terms than the Privacy Act legislation currently recognises. Richard Gilbert, Chief Executive of the Rule of Law Institute of Australia suggests that privacy is not of increasing concern and that a statutory course of action for breaches of privacy would effectively limit free speech.
There is a vast array of scenarios involved here affecting different people, depending on the way they live and the public places they frequent. Such real-life examples include security cameras in private housing, facial recognition technology utilised in nightclubs to record and identify patrons, and cases of media intrusion. In addition to the multiplicity of issues, a further matter for debate is that ultimately what one person deems as harmless could cause great discomfort in others.
The discussion as it relates to photography in public involves everyone and we are likely to see a divide between photographers and the general public as we seek to find balance between ones complete and total ownership of their image and an artist's right to self-expression...
READ the full article with images on the michaels website blog
