What Law IS Being Broken

Author
Discussion

over_the_hill

Original Poster:

3,209 posts

253 months

Friday 19th April
quotequote all

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-6...

from above
"Greater Manchester Police (GMP) says it is actively working to catch the people making the videos."

But if filming in a public space they do not need permission and everyone is fair game - shirley !

Condi

17,970 posts

178 months

Friday 19th April
quotequote all
Indeed.

Apparently if the intent is to cause "harassment" then there could be a problem, but not sure how that fits with all the real life cop programs whereby the police/camera men always say they can film because it's a public place. Surely filming someone being arrested for drink driving is more "harassing" than filming some girls on a night out.

Also unsure if the law requires intent or not, just filming someone walking down the street is not harassment, but I guess the comments posted online might be. The comments, then, are the offence, not the filming?

IANAL!

Gecko1978

10,465 posts

164 months

Friday 19th April
quotequote all
Auditors. They don't break the law either but they are annoying and cause alarm. Same principle really

Badda

2,901 posts

89 months

Friday 19th April
quotequote all
over_the_hill said:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-6...

from above
"Greater Manchester Police (GMP) says it is actively working to catch the people making the videos."

But if filming in a public space they do not need permission and everyone is fair game - shirley !
Odd that you’d read that and that is then your first thought.
FWIW it answers your question in the article you’ve linked to.

ChevronB19

6,378 posts

170 months

Friday 19th April
quotequote all
over_the_hill said:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-6...

from above
"Greater Manchester Police (GMP) says it is actively working to catch the people making the videos."

But if filming in a public space they do not need permission and everyone is fair game - shirley !
It’s about intent, but (IANAL) the issues circulate mostly around comments received on the post. Quote from GMP mentioned in article ‘GMP said although it is not illegal to film people in public, if the action is causing distress or harassment it could be considered criminal.’

The distress element presumably comes from the sexual comments made in response to the video, and the multiple poster of those videos is ‘clever’ titling them as just ‘nightlife in city X’. Nonetheless, the actual intent (although unprovable) is pretty clear, and it’s a pretty creepy thing to do, in particular as they focus solely on young women so therefore don’t cover the whole of nightlife in city X.

Irrespective of the law, it’s bloody creepy (especially the apparent hidden filming), although not dissimilar to what the Daily Mail regularly do, or the multiple threads on here which make comments about specific women (cf. blue lady in kitchen, lady in tweed at racecourse) etc.

bitchstewie

55,179 posts

217 months

Friday 19th April
quotequote all
Let's see how many pages this turns into of men justifying some really fking creepy behaviour.

ChevronB19

6,378 posts

170 months

Friday 19th April
quotequote all
bhstewie said:
Let's see how many pages this turns into of men justifying some really fking creepy behaviour.
Yep, see my post above.

Terminator X

16,335 posts

211 months

Friday 19th April
quotequote all
over_the_hill said:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-6...

from above
"Greater Manchester Police (GMP) says it is actively working to catch the people making the videos."

But if filming in a public space they do not need permission and everyone is fair game - shirley !
"GMP said although it is not illegal to film people in public, if the action is causing distress or harassment it could be considered criminal"

Similar to the Aintree thread that we get on PH every year. No I won't find it for you wink

TX.

JackJarvis

2,569 posts

141 months

Friday 19th April
quotequote all
bhstewie said:
Let's see how many pages this turns into of men justifying some really fking creepy behaviour.
Bet you can't wait to pop back later with a "Jesus Christ".


Condi

17,970 posts

178 months

Friday 19th April
quotequote all
bhstewie said:
Let's see how many pages this turns into of men justifying some really fking creepy behaviour.
Being creepy isn't a crime though. It turns into a moral argument and everyone will have a different opinion, which is why we have the law, to draw that line between criminal and non-criminal. If there is no crime being committed then there is nothing for the police to be involved in.

It's not a complicated discussion.

ChevronB19

6,378 posts

170 months

Friday 19th April
quotequote all
Condi said:
bhstewie said:
Let's see how many pages this turns into of men justifying some really fking creepy behaviour.
Being creepy isn't a crime though. It turns into a moral argument and everyone will have a different opinion, which is why we have the law, to draw that line between criminal and non-criminal. If there is no crime being committed then there is nothing for the police to be involved in.

It's not a complicated discussion.
As per the quote from GMP above, in terms of ‘could’, it clearly is complicated and will need a lot of lawyer advice. And no, being creepy isn’t a crime, but it’s still creepy. Again, not a lawyer, but I would assume the issue revolves around the actual intent of posting those videos, and (possibly) covert filming by someone other than ‘an authority’.

bitchstewie

55,179 posts

217 months

Friday 19th April
quotequote all
Condi said:
Being creepy isn't a crime though. It turns into a moral argument and everyone will have a different opinion, which is why we have the law, to draw that line between criminal and non-criminal. If there is no crime being committed then there is nothing for the police to be involved in.

It's not a complicated discussion.
This article explains how the being creepy part might be criminal.

GMP will 'fly there straight away' if you see this behaviour on a night out

"However, and I say that with a strong however, if somebody is persistently filming a person in the city centre - let's say a young girl or female - and it's against their will, it's causing harassment, alarm and distress, we will take action at all times.

"If you're trying to enjoy a night out with your friends and family and you come across this misogynistic, predatory behavior, we will fly there straight away and we'll make arrests where necessary."

Terminator X

16,335 posts

211 months

Friday 19th April
quotequote all
bhstewie said:
Condi said:
Being creepy isn't a crime though. It turns into a moral argument and everyone will have a different opinion, which is why we have the law, to draw that line between criminal and non-criminal. If there is no crime being committed then there is nothing for the police to be involved in.

It's not a complicated discussion.
This article explains how the being creepy part might be criminal.

GMP will 'fly there straight away' if you see this behaviour on a night out

"However, and I say that with a strong however, if somebody is persistently filming a person in the city centre - let's say a young girl or female - and it's against their will, it's causing harassment, alarm and distress, we will take action at all times.

"If you're trying to enjoy a night out with your friends and family and you come across this misogynistic, predatory behavior, we will fly there straight away and we'll make arrests where necessary."
Which is fair enough. The person as the OP though is just filming people walking past on a night out.

TX.

Rough101

2,297 posts

82 months

Friday 19th April
quotequote all
Whilst filming in a public place is not illegal, neither is obstructing it, same with auditors, stand in front of the camera and keep saying you don’t want filmed.

Badda

2,901 posts

89 months

Friday 19th April
quotequote all
bhstewie said:
Let's see how many pages this turns into of men justifying some really fking creepy behaviour.
Yup, hence my earlier post.

Rufus Stone

8,249 posts

63 months

Friday 19th April
quotequote all
Someone who no doubt posts loads of videos of herself on the internet is upset someone else has posted a video of her too.


Bluevanman

7,888 posts

200 months

Friday 19th April
quotequote all
These videos popped up on my Facebook feed a while back .
It's happening in all big cities,some person filming women walking between bars mostly,very scantily clad women mostly,often drunk.
Then you get the comments on the videos which are rarely flattering.
I'd imagine if the camera person ever got caught in action they'd get a slap.

ChevronB19

6,378 posts

170 months

Friday 19th April
quotequote all
Rufus Stone said:
Someone who no doubt posts loads of videos of herself on the internet is upset someone else has posted a video of her too.
Oh, first ‘bingo’ of the thread. Not sure if it should go on the ‘victim blaming’ square or another option.

Your ‘someone’ may or may not make a choice to post a video she filmed herself. She doesn’t have the choice if someone (allegedly with some form of camera glasses, which is particularly worrying as the individuals in question don’t have any knowledge of being filmed) posts a video of her with a title saying ‘nightlife of X’ focussing purely on young women, nor does she have a choice about people making sexualised comments about her.

Also ‘no doubt’ she has posted loads of videos of herself? That’s a pretty strong (and irrelevant) statement. Would you be more sympathetic if she hadn’t?

Earthdweller

14,398 posts

133 months

Friday 19th April
quotequote all
It’s a very awkward one for the Police as I’m sure they’ve had complaints most likely made subsequently by people who’ve seen themselves on these videos

Whilst undoubtedly some are “wholesome” others are verging on being being pervy and perhaps even voyeuristic

The Police clearly are issuing a public warning which I’d imagine is aimed at warning off those doing the filming but I’m not convinced that either the Public order act or harassment act would stand up to scrutiny particularly as under S5 POA the offender would have to do something overtly that caused alarm or distress and as a lot of the filming is done covertly it would be incredibly difficult to catch an offender nor find a victim at the time

It isn’t a new thing it’s been going on for years

Public safety and reassurance is key and they don’t want women to be put off coming into the city nor perhaps the videos attracting others with poor intentions to the city centre



S600BSB

6,117 posts

113 months

Friday 19th April
quotequote all
bhstewie said:
Let's see how many pages this turns into of men justifying some really fking creepy behaviour.
Indeed. Why are people filming anyway FFS.