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Comment by nkkollaw | Hacker News Reader

I was talking about this with my girlfriend at dinner tonight.

While we were eating, I noticed a few cameras that got a view of the whole restaurant, and wondered: of course filming the restaurant might be useful in case of a robbery (?) or for insurance, etc., but what are the chances the minimum-wage employees that checks those DON'T use it to check out hot women or embarassing stuff that happens from time to time..?

With us being tracked with data and video all the time nowadays we are safer--or the companies that have the footage are safer--but of course there is a lot of room for abuse and improper usage.

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"the minimum-wage employees that checks those"

Does anyone even look at them? I just assume most video gets recorded and then recorded over or somehow discarded.

Outside of situations like say an airport or casino I doubt anyone is actively watching most of the cameras unless something happens after the fact.

Perhaps not actively, but I bet in case of a hot woman or something weird going on they'll know where the monitors are.

I also have two separate family members that have businesses with cameras, and they both look at what's going from an app on their iPads while they watch TV in the evening (actually, having seen them do it is probably why I know videos at businesses are not handled properly).

Don't public places like shops have to have a sign saying there's CCTV? So customers know they're watched just like in the street.

Not in Italy nor Poland.

Also, what difference would that make? I already know I'm being filmed, the problem is that there is no control over how that video is used.

>Not in Italy nor Poland.

Which does not mean that there isn't a Law (in Italy) mandating it.

[Italian] Articolo 13 del Decreto Legislativo n.196/2003 e Videosorveglianza - Provvedimento generale - 29 aprile 2004:

http://www.garanteprivacy.it/web/guest/home/docweb/-/docweb-... [/Italian]

In a nutshell: http://www.garanteprivacy.it/Garante-Home-theme/images/origi...

Surely it makes no difference whatsoever.

They are public cameras taking pubic photos.

That's the whole deal with the "creepshots" deal on Reddit/Tumbler/etc. The subjects are in a public place. If someone does candid shots of lots of different types of people in a city and puts them in an art gallery, they're often considered art (even if 10% ~ 15% of the photos are of really pretty men or women that might be taken as being sexual). However, if you have a site that's only attractive men/women in public settings .. then it's not art ... or is it?

It all comes down to context. Legally it's fine to take public photos of people in many countries (and probably should be, because we don't want to go down that slope). Is it immoral? Well, that's another issue, and that depends on the context the photos were taken in. But you have to set a line somewhere, at least with the legal concerns. You might not like it, but it's just a part of being in a free society you have to deal with.

Now if someone takes a photo in a private area, like a bathroom or spying into a home, that's a different legal issue (unless it's looking up a skirt in Texas[1])

[1]: https://news.vice.com/article/court-ruling-makes-taking-pict...

Is a restaurant considered a public place, though?

Chances are, the field of view is so wide there isn’t much of your GF to be seen in the recording, even in HD.

Sure, but it was just an example. What about if I was with my lover, and I didn't want my wife to know? If someone from the staff knew my wife, how do I know they won't send the video to her?

What if I was drunk and tripped or made a fool of myself in some other way and I didn't want that to end up on YouTube or /r/PublicFreakout on Reddit?

Etc., etc.

We just don't know. Of course I could sue the person if what's been done is illegal, but it's a video and the damage would be done and hard to repair.

Well that person who knows your wife probably only needs their voice to tell your wife...

From what I’ve seen, there may be a display in view of the staff and/or public. But the DVR and controls are usually locked up for the simple reason the owner doesn’t want to have to pay to call in a tech every time an employee monkeys with the system.

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