sledgehammer to crack a …..

A piece of legislation is under consideration which will mean, if passed, that we may no longer be able to photograph public buildings without the owner’s permission.  This includes iconic buildings such as the Shard or the London Eye.  

The legislation is about changes to European copyright laws. It may well turn out to be one of these attempts at law-making which has unintended consequences; aimed at professional photographers, it also appears to encompass commercial websites such as Facebook and Wikipedia.  

If you think it won't affect you;
Julia Reda, member of the European Parliament, points out, even the private upload of a photograph on Facebook would need the consent of the architect, as with the upload you grant Facebook a license to commercially use the photograph.

Surely such legislation must affect also Blip. 

Amateur Photographer has launched an on-line petition to urge MEPs to vote against this proposal on July 9th.

Details here.

I realise that this may well turn out to be one of those laws that is difficult to police - how do you stop the London Eye popping up in a million selfies?  That does not seem to stop legislators trying though.


ps.  No cameras were hurt in the making of this image.

pps. I know that the nut should ideally have a shell for the metaphor to make sense, but it’s the wrong season.