Is it Sinful to film the General Public?

[Arimor]

Hi All,

I’ve recently started up a new YouTube channel, and decided to pay a trip to a very popular street in my home city.

I was going to make a short YouTube video about this particular street for my target audience located overseas.

However, as I was walking along the busy street, just filming what was ahead of me, there were a couple of occasions where people who were walking past me either looked away, or covered their face, one man, whom I’m sure was Muslim, actually told me not to film him.

This experience made me very self conscious, and question whether my inadvertent filming of the general public, is in fact unethical, or even ‘sinful’, as, in essence, I’m capturing people on film without their consent, albeit in a very public place.

Would someone know whether the Catholic Church has a take on this? I know legally speaking, recording people in a public place is fine as there’s ‘no expectation of privacy’, however how does this sit ethically?

Your opinions would be very welcome!

Many thanks.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

1. While it’s probably not illegal to film in a public place in UK, it may be a civil law matter if the person does not want to be filmed, and also because you are planning to publish the film on Youtube rather than just watch it yourself. Best practice if you’re going to film someone in a manner where they’re recognizable (in other words, not from so far away you can’t see their face) is to have the person sign a release. (This is my opinion only and does not constitute legal advice.)
2. Many people don’t want to be on a stranger’s film and also, some religions teach against their practitioners appearing on film or in photographs. For example, some groups of Amish in USA do not like having their pictures taken for religious reasons. While sometimes it’s impossible for these people to avoid being filmed (for example, if they have to go in a government building where there is a security camera and the government has decided that the need for security trumps the person’s private interest in not being filmed), there’s no compelling reason like security or law enforcement purpose for you taking this film. You just want to post it to Youtube for entertainment. So you need to respect people’s preferences.
3. The Catholic Church does not have a specific teaching on filming people, but the Church does teach that we need to respect and obey reasonable laws (item 1 above) and that we have to also respect the dignity of individuals, which would include respecting their preferences about not being filmed and put on Youtube by a total stranger.

As a practical matter of manners, I would say that unless you’re at some event such as a big festival or sporting event where people expect everybody to be taking phone videos and putting them on Youtube, don’t be going around filming people. People just walking through your local town square aren’t expecting to end up on Youtube from that. I would be a bit annoyed if I went to the convenience store and some guy was filming me and everybody else going in and out of the store, because you don’t expect it there. You expect the store to film you inside to make sure you don’t steal, but the store isn’t going to put you on Youtube unless some incident, like a crime, happens in the store. That’s different from some random guy filming and you have no idea what he’s going to do with the footage.

 

[Arimor]

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question and in such a concise manner, what you say makes perfect sense.

Bit of background, I’m setting up a channel to teach ESL English, and thought it would be a good idea to show a typical weekend in a very well known busy/touristy street in the East End of London, known for it’s market stalls, street performers, and on this particular occasion, a fashion show which was also underway, so loads of photographers were there too.

This however doesn’t deter from the fact that I shouldn’t be filming in a bustling location where passers by will inadvertently end up on film and potentially on YouTube.

There was something about it that made me feel a tad uneasy, and you just reaffirmed my decision not to go ahead with this particular video.

I’m a bit annoyed with myself as I set aside 2 days to do this filming, plus I had my heart set on doing similar videos in the future on famous London landmarks, maybe I ought to hit them at the crack of dawn when no one’s around!

Thank you once again for the advice, it’s appreciated.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

If you’re filming with something like your phone camera and you’re focusing on the landmark, not on people, it should be okay to take some film of, say, the London Eye going around as long as you’re not showing people up close who are walking by, getting on and off, etc. We take little films of this type all the time for holiday souvenirs, etc. However if you have some bigger camera so you’re very obviously filming, and getting shots of people close enough to recognize them, then it becomes more of an issue. If all you want is some background to introduce your ESL lesson, just take the film from far enough away that the people aren’t recognizable. Or, like you said, go at a time when people aren’t around.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

And also, if you really want to film something like a street performer or a vendor, just tell them, “I’m shooting some video for an ESL program that I’m making for Youtube, in order to make my English lessons look more interesting. Would it be okay if I filmed your performance, or your stall?” Some of them will probably say yes, no problem. If someone says no, just say, “OK, thank you anyway” and move on.

 

[Arimor]

Thanks Tis_Bearself, really appreciate your (name removed by moderator)ut. I think I’ll stick to filming in front of a landmark, as an intro, rather than going out and about. It’ll make life easier that way, as well as my editing!

Many thanks.